Light in the Darkness
by diamondscale
Summary: Gotham P.D. Detective Karen Larsing, criminal psychological profiler becomes torn between her job and her personal opinions when she encounters Batman on a case of serial murders. But what happens when she joins him? (A/N:Rated M because I'm just paranoid. please Read and Review(:)
1. Chapter 1

The city of Gotham, to outsiders it was a stain, a horrid festering wound on the face of America. But those that weathered the evil and accepted the challenge thrown to them by the very foundation of Gotham to live and thrive, it was home.

To Karen Larsing Gotham was just that, she knew its streets like the back of her hand, she knew which gangs to avoid and which alleys to not go down at certain times in the day. She knew which cops were corrupt and which were actually cops that wanted to clean up the city.

And she knew when the Batman was most likely to be out.

Being a waitress and doctoral student, she could only afford the cheapest of apartments, the ones in the roughest sort of neighbor hoods, ones that the Batman visited often. Her first glimpse him had been out of her window, when a thug had made the mistake of robbing the local pawn shop.

Never had she seen one man hold such a presence, and as she wished that once she got her badge she would be so effective.

Karen wanted to be a member of the police force, only two weeks away from graduating, she would have her doctorate in criminal psychology, already having her degree in criminal justice. Thank god it was cheap to go to school here too. Then she would be able to do something about the scum that walked the streets of her city.

Karen had suspended getting her badge, wanting to complete her education, knowing how rigorous the hours could be, she didn't want to endanger herself and others by not focusing one-hundred percent on her job.

And one of her jobs would be the Batman.

The Chief, when she had explained her situation and why she was postponing her academy induction, assigned her, once she got her badge to the Batman case.

Batman, the very name sent her on an internal debate that didn't stop until she had exhausted every possible argument. Such as any man who dressed as a nocturnal winged rat had to have some issues.

Yet when she remembered him that day, there had been such anger, such grief in his stance, under the intimidation she saw a man in pain. Now what pain was the question. Perhaps a lost love? To a mugger that kind of thing happened often enough in Gotham. Perhaps the corruption of Gotham had taken away his life. . .

No she thought no too material, no it was personal, he hated the criminals, And yet he held himself back, any normal vigilante would have an agenda, or target a specific group or gang. Batman didn't seem to discriminate from a politician to a pick pocket.

And it hardly helped her to know that the Batman had solved several of the G.P.D.'s cases before they even so much as complied a list of suspects.

In Karen's personal opinion as a citizen of Gotham she thought the Batman was possibly the best thing to happen to this city, and often cheered the new commissioner when he had shown support to the Batman, not quite saying that he disapproved but neither did he declare the Batman as a friend to the city.

But as a professional, she could not help but analyze him and his actions as the Chief suggested. What could drive a man to take such a corrupted city by storm, and strike fear into the heart of it's underbelly? An mental condition or trauma from some horrific event witnessed in his lifetime.

_And speaking of mental conditions_ she thought grimly as she turned to the news. Depicting a brutal homicide, the couple sporting knife wounds and the young man with a gruesome smile on his face, a playing card stuffed in the girl's mouth.

The Joker; one of the many nutcases that had crawled from the woodwork and perhaps the worst. Now that was who she wanted to analyze, a psychotic with a past just as shrouded as the Batman's identity and twice as dangerous.

Karen had heard about Harley Quinnzel, once a brilliant psychologist, rendered to a life of crime, her mind altered by emotions that were never aquited, or so she had been told, by the Joker. Karen glanced toward the Narrows, the island left to madness after some sort of gas attack by Scarecrow, another nut job, where she knew that Harley Quinn was celled in padded room.

Joker broke her out about a month after every incarceration, when he needed a lackey and perhaps someone who wouldn't mind sharing a bed with the screw loose. Karen had it from the prostitute across the hall that no matter how much the Joker would pay not a single call girl would go anywhere near him, resulting in if declined in person a brutal rape and murder for a poor girl trying to make ends meet.

The Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime as Gotham had named him, angering the crime bosses of the underworld. But no one dared moved against him, no one but Batman.

A knock on her roused her from her thoughts. And she shut off the T.V. and, after looking through the peep hole, answered the door.

"Donut?" her future partner and friend Jackson Richards said, holding out an open box. He was perhaps one of the few honest cops in the city, his mother had been caught in a cross fire between Falconie and the Russian and had set him on the detective fast track. He was tall as a the door frame, ducking so as not to hit his head, his green eyes glinted mischievously as he flapped the lid at me, wafting the smell of warm cake donuts, her favorite, toward her.

"I'm not a cop yet" she said but took one anyway.

"You might as well be" he said throwing himself down on her worn out futon. "you give all the guys coffee in the morning, then when you get off your down at the station, talking it up with the detectives."

"jealous?" she teased, pouring myself some milk to go with the donut.

"psh yeah" he said around a donut, rolling his eyes "sure"

"So you start tomorrow" he asked and she nodded as she stuffed her face. "rumor is that your on Batman"

"Yeah" she sighed

"you don't sound too thrilled" he noticed and she sat in the armchair, leaning forward and nursing her glass.

"Jack" she said "I'm asking you not as my future partner but as a fellow citizen of Gotham . . . what do you think of the Batman?"

Jack contemplated and ate his next donut and took a long sip of his coffee before answering.

"personally, I think that the guy should get a freaking medal" he said setting his coffee on the table "he don't do no permanent damage to the criminals, he doesn't parade around like a peacock and he's saved a lot of lives, shook the gangsters and crime bosses to their boots."

"I'm sensing a but" Karen said

"But" he nodded "he is still a vigilante and those are classified as criminals. And as a cop it's my job to get him off the streets. He is still a danger"

"and what about that guy from Metropolis" she asked "he can throw a car to the moon, break a persons neck with a flick of his finger and burn a hole through someone with a look, how is he different"

"Do you want to confront him?" Jack said

Karen merely finished her milk, regretting bringing up the topic, it was too sensitive and she knew it. but she couldn't help but voice her concerns.

"do you want to confront Batman?" Karen countered setting her glass next to his and he laughed

"you nuts? No way" he said. "you see the punks that come in? broken arms fingers, ribs and legs. I would like to still be able to walk when I turn thirty thank you"

"My point being" she said "I would rather look more closely into the Joker and the Scarecrow and all of his other eniemies, the ones that are hurting the public"

"whoa" Jack said "now you aren't a detective yet, you have a few years to go, rookie, the Joker is for the seasoned veterans like Yin."

"I know" she said "so why is Chief putting me on Batman?"

"Fresh young mind" he said shrugging "fresh from college, and a woman at that. Women have an uncanny ability to details and little things that could mean the world to a person"

"I know" Karen muttered and suddenly his pager beeped

"damn" he said "I'll see you tomorrow Kare, got a situation"

"bye Jack" she said

"don't worry I won't rat to the Chief about this little discussion we just had" he said with a grin

"what discussion" she asked grinning back "say hi to Helen for me"

"will do" he said as he made his way down the hall

"and be careful" she said "I want a partner in the morning"

"yeah yeah" he said and she closed the door shaking her head.


	2. Chapter 2

Three years later

Karen rubbed her eyes trying desperately to stay awake, despite her fifth cup of coffee already over loading her body on caffeine

"Detective?" a voice said to her right. She looked up to see Commissioner Gordon standing over her. She immediately stood

"Commissioner" she said in greeting

"Any progress?" Gordon asked

"No sir" Karen sighed slumping down into her chair. "I have been profiling this case front ways, sideways, inside out and upside down. And have gotten nothing more than a head rush and possibly cancer from all the damn coffee"

"Is it the Joker?" Gordon asked pulling up a spare chair.

"No sir, the M.O. is similar on first look maybe, but Joker likes flare, he wants to, in his own sick way, put on a show for everyone to see" Karen closed the folder, unable to look at the mangled bodies anymore "or more specifically for Batman to see"

"And the crystal?" Gordon asked

"Forensics came back with the results" she said "it's similar to several different types found in caves all over the world but there was no definitive match. In other words that thing should not exist"

"So" Gordon sat back and stared at the ceiling "possibly a new criminal wandering the city"

"I think so sir" Karen said then pursed her lips.

Since joining the police force she had handled several cases and even though she had a rookie consulted on quite a few.

The day Commissioner Gordon had announced that Batman was no longer a fugitive had been perhaps the most liberating day of her life, no longer was she profiling him to be captured, now it was her own personal fascination.

She had no desire to catch Batman, but she could not let the subject die, her apartment wall was plastered with Batman. Karen knew she was obsessed, she knew that obsession was dangerous, but she couldn't help but want to pierce the shroud that was Batman.

And Joker.

Joker, he was the ultimate nut to crack, her obsession with Batman was paltry compared with her obsession with Joker. Karen had come to hate him, with a burning passion, and with Commissioner Gordon's permission and a rigorous psych evaluation she had been given full access to the Joker's case files, from the time he was a gun for hire until he became the insane clown that cackled up and down the streets of Gotham. And since she had become Gotham P.D.'s leading expert on the Joker.

Karen had been behind the glass as the Commissioner questioned the Joker, one of the few attempts of interrogation after he had been captured and trussed by the Batman, and analyzed Joker from top to bottom, only deepening her desire to see the man forever in a padded room with three straight jackets on so tight they suffocated the screw loose.

But Gordon had pulled her away from the old Joker cases, when several murders began sweeping the streets and bodies began piling up. To CSU it had seemed to be Jokers M.O. but upon closer examination Karen found it not to be the case, Joker liked to break minds, not bodies, Joker liked to play games, tricks, and there was more often than not a shout out to the Batman.

"well based on the case files, what do you see" Gordon asked

"this killer is not concerned about getting caught" she said "this man has left DNA, fibers and all sorts of forensic evidence, except finger prints, for us to wade through. He also is enjoying this, he gets pleasure from hurting and killing these people"

"how can you tell" Gordon asked

"because there was evidence of prolonged torture on the bodies" she said "wounds that were there for over two weeks, which means he kept coming back, there was also some evidence that suggested that several of the victims were raped and it was not only females,"

"God, this is a sick bastard" Gordon said

"he is also kidnapping these people for a reason" Karen said opening the files again "I'm just not sure what yet"

"perhaps it's just your run of the mill serial killer?" Lieutenant Yin said coming up next to Gordon

"You would think so" Karen said "but serial killers leave a calling card, a signature, it doesn't matter how crazy. Even Joker leaves one, the joker playing card every time."

"besides" Gordon said with a grin, "since when had Gotham had run of the mill criminals?"

"never in my experience" Karen muttered then looked forlornly into her coffee mug "well I suppose I have to extend my date with the coffee machine"

"Go home Karen" Yin said "its almost one in the morning, clock out, go home and hit the sack."

"But . . ." Karen tried to protest but her rebellious body made her yawn instead

"Go on" Gordon said "you're no good to me half dead on your feet"

Karen nodded, too tired to argue and as Yin and Gordon left she closed down her desk, threw on her leather duster Jack had given her as a joke when she had been promoted. She waved goodnight to Wendi the night desk clerk and was abou to walk out the front door.

But she spotted Gordon and Yin going up instead of down and that could only mean one thing.

The signal, they were going to call the Batman.

After all the months she had worked with the poilice, never once had she seen the Batman, her only glimpse had been the one time on the roof top across from her window. And Karen felt that obsession snag her, making her more alert than coffee ever could. she followed Yin and Gordon up the stairs and slipped out onto the roof, hoping to be as quiet as a mouse.

Unfortunately the door needed oiling.

The short squeal startled Gordon and he turned with his sig drawn, Yin following not a half second later. Both lowered them as they realized who was on the receiving end of the gun.

"Larsing?" Gordon said

"Detective" Yin said irritably,

"Sorry sir, ma'am" Karen said shrugging her shoulders "I just had to meet him, once at the very least"

Gordon looked at her a long time before nodding shortly

"might as well" he said "you're the Detective on the case, you might be able to add details that we can't"

"thank you sir" Karen sid

"but tomorrow" Yin said "you will be the one cleaning out the coffee pot first thing in the morning, and this will never happen again"

"yes Lieutenant" Karen said as she leaned against the wall.

And waited

And waited even longer

"no show?" Yin asked

"just wait" Gordon said

Karen stood and was about to start pacing with impatience when she heard a rustle of fabric and turned around.

There he was, the Batman, shrouded in shadow, watching her through his black cowl. He was tall, tall enough that she had to tilt her head to look up at him. his presence was different from that night, there was not quite so much angst and more purpose. His cape billowed sideways in the breeze, making him nearly one with the night sky and onlyadding to the mystery that surrounded him.

Karen after her first moment of awe, wanted to ask a thousand questions. But it was not the time or place, and she knew it.

"Gordon?" th legend spoke with a deep and slightly gravely voice**(A/N Imagine Kevin Conroy, not Christopher Nolan). **It was not unpleasant sounding, but his tone was not an inviting one either.

"this is Detective Larsing" Gordon said "she is leading the case"

"Detective" Batman said nodding his head.

"Batman" Karen greeted

"formality served" Yin said impatiently "bodies pile up more every day this bastard's loose"

"Right" Gordon said

"this man is not a serial killer" Batman said "he's targeting these people for a reason, what that is I'm not sure"

"He is also non-discriminate" Karen put in "adult, children, race, and sexuality; there is nothing he won't do to get what he wants"

"sounds like Joker" Yin muttered

"It's not" Batman said in unison with Karen, who cleared her throat to cover her laugh, while Batman remained emotionless.

"Joker is a showboat" Karen said "he has to make some sort of spectacle, this man is not only not worried about not getting caught, he doesn't care"

"he's harvesting something from his victims" Batman said and Karen nodded

"that would make sense" she said "but nothing was missing from the bodies"

Batman moved past Karen and looked at Gordon.

"I'll look into it" Batman said jumping on to the roof ledge.

"keep me in the loop" Gordon said with a nod and after a shot of the grappling hook gun, Batman vanished into the night.

"Holy Mary Mother of God" Karen muttered "that was Batman"

"that was Batman" Gordon concurred "now it's time to go home"


	3. Chapter 3

"Ah take-out Chinese" Jack said with a grin "the midnight dinner of champions"

"Don't you have a wife and kid to go be a loving husband to?" Karen asked handing him his portion of the food.

"Yeah" Jack smiled, his one visible eye sparkling with mischief. "Jane's scooting all over the apartment, drives Helen and me nuts keeping track of her"

Karen laughed as she opened her chow mien and teriyaki chicken

"So how's the paper pushing job?" Karen asked

"Crap" Jack growled "but it's money, better than being laid off because of that mad man" Jack jerked a thumb over his shoulder as he grabbed a pair of chop sticks.

Karen glanced at her wall, covered with Joker and Batman, and stabbed at a piece of chicken hard with her fork.

"Whoa there, Kare" Jack said "keep doing that and you'll go hungry."

"It's my fault" Karen muttered and Jack sighed putting his food on the table,

"No it wasn't, Kare" Jack said leaning forward.

"Yes it was" Karen snapped "I should have realized it was a trap, I should have seen Joker's tells"

Two years ago, Karen and Jack had responded to an anonymous 911 about a break-in in the warehouse district, had split up and while Karen had met nothing than a stray cat, Jack had been accosted by Joker and Harley Quinn.

Joker had toyed with Jack, taking enjoyment in the fact that Jack was alone, taunting him, and then growing bored when Jack wouldn't take the bait and drew a knife.

The resulting fight cost Jack his eye and he had nearly died from Joker's laughing gas. According to evidence later found, after Karen had found her partner and Joker and Harley handcuffed and called in backup and an ambulance, Batman had been Jack's savior that night. Inoculating Jack with the antidote for the gas and trussing up the Joker and Harley, but at the time he had still been a fugitive and even with the blatant evidence that he was not the menace that the majority of the police had taken him for.

Once he had recovered he had talked to Commissioner Gordon about staying with the force, working in dispatch and filing incident reports. Karen knew he was bored, and knew that he often wished he was back out in the field. But Jack was Jack; he could make the best out of the worst situation. There were moments when he was grateful, for he had been able to see his baby girl born and grow, had received compensation from the police force and still received benefits. For all of Jack's joking and fooling around, he prayed every night and thanked God and Batman that he was still alive, able to be there for his family.

"Karen" Jack said sharply and Karen looked up at him in surprise, Jack only ever called her by her full name when he felt that she was in the wrong and often times she was.

"You are not a superhero" Jack said "you are not Batman or that chick in Washington D.C., whats her name . . . ?"

"Wonder Woman" Karen muttered, not liking that he was scolding her.

"Yeah her" Jack said "you are human, for one, for two, Chief wouldn't let you anywhere near Joker's case files, he had you on Batman, you only got glimpses from the evidence wall in when you helped with the Batman cases."

Karen stood and paced to the wall which she was beginning to think of as her obsession wall and stared at Joker's smiling mug shot, crossing her arms.

"I hate him Jack" Karen said quietly "I hate him for doing this to you, for making every party favor I see a nightmare waiting to happen. I want him off the streets, gone"

Jack was silent for a minute then she heard his chair scuff as he pushed his chair back and she turned to him, watching as he leaned against the wall.

"Do you remember when I first met you?" Jack asked

"Yeah" Karen said "you ordered apple pie and ice cream, upset after an arrest"

"do you remember that case?" he asked and Karen shook her head "this kid had been molested and kept locked up for several months before we found him, half starved in his uncles house. We arrested him for child abuse and molestation but that kid. . . God his face still haunts me. And you were so exhausted, working a double shift, but you noticed, a complete stranger, that something was weighing on me"

"I sat down and asked you about it" Karen said remembering "and you told me about the monster that did that to his nephew"

"Yeah I did" Jack said "and I asked you . . . I asked you if you would have killed him if someone had done that to you. And you stood up and filled up my coffee and left without answering. I had thought that meant yes, you would, but about an hour later you came back with my change and looked me right in the eyes and said no. And you walked away"

"What's your point" Karen asked turning back to the obsession wall.

"that's why I have always called you Kare" Jack said "because you do, you care more than Yin, more than even Helen, and she's a teacher, she sees the impact on that growing up in this city has on kids. You might even care more than Gordon. You went and got a doctorate in criminal psychology; you could have gone to Washington and worked for the FBI or to Metropolis. But you stayed here, in Gotham, and became a beat cop, then a Sergeant, then a Detective. For Gotham"

"It's home" Karen shrugged embarrassed and Jack laughed humorlessly

"It's hell" he said "as soon as Helen gives birth and he starts walking, we are moving to Metropolis, or Star City, or Central City, but I will not have Janey and my son grow up in this place."

Karen sighed and went back to the dining table and grabbed her now cold Chinese takeout and began eating it.

"But you want to stay here and tough it out, you want to postpone having a family, you want to live your life in service to a corrupt city" Jack said

"The only way it's going to change is if someone does do all that" Karen said

"Not in your life time" Jack said "change isn't that quick"

"Will you just get to the point" Karen snapped "God, I haven't heard you go on like this since my first target range practice"

"my point" Jack said "is that you can't whack anyone, hell you won't even take a kill shot, the only shots I ever saw you pull was ones to the knees shoulder, foot, anywhere but fatal areas."

"Because they weren't necessary" Karen said

"Yeah you're lucky" Jack muttered "if it had been some cracked nut with a bomb you would have had to kill him"

"Are you done?" Karen asked, irritated, she knew that was a weakness in her job, if she ever came into a situation where she had to kill a man she knew that it had to be a snap decision, no hesitation.

"Yeah I guess" Jack said sitting and looking into his take out box "Damn it's cold now"

"That's what you get for lecturing" Karen said "it's the universe punishing you for being weird"

"Yeah, yeah" Jack muttered and closed up the carton. "Well I better get home, about time to wake up for Janey, which means I have to be home to read her a story, or Helen will ride my ass because she needs sleep"

"Tell her I said goodnight" Karen said "and Jack . . . thanks"

"No prob, partner" Jack said pulling on his leather jacket and opening the door.

"Be careful, going home, yeah?" Karen called

"Duh" Jack called waving as he walked down the hall. Karen shut and bolted her door. Then went into the kitchen to clean up her mess.

As she finished she turned and nearly screamed.

Batman stood like a shadow by her wall of obsession, her living room window open.

"Good God Almighty in all His Southern Glory" Karen muttered, her heart racing "what the hell are you doing in my apartment?"

"Gordon wanted you in the loop" Batman said as if that explained everything.

"Okay" Karen said "but whatever you tell him, he's going to tell me, so I ask again, what the hell are you doing in my apartment"

"Gordon doesn't know, not yet" Batman said turning and looking at Karen's obsession wall "I wanted to go directly to the lead investigator on this case"

"I'm flattered" Karen said sarcastically "what did you find"

"The DNA found at the crime scene" Batman said "I haven't found any matches"

"I am sensing a 'but'." Karen said

"I tested further" Batman said, "The DNA shows anomalies that have only been found in ancient burial grounds, tombs and crypts."

Karen raised an eye brow and looked at Batman. If it had been Jack, Karen would have sworn up and down that he was messing with her. But it wasn't Jack it was Batman.

"Are you saying he's a dead guy" Karen asked

"Perhaps that's what he's stealing from his victims" Batman said "their lives"

Karen began pacing, and she was thinking.

There seemed more to it than that, even if Batman was right and Karen had no reason to doubt him, she felt something was missing.

"Alright" Karen said stopping and looking at the Dark Knight. "Let's put that aside for now, it's too crazy to think about at two in the morning. Explain the crystal"

Batman looked at her then at the wall of obsession, but his silence was answer enough.

"You can't" Karen said "fantastic"

Batman looked back at her.

"I'll let you know when I have more" Batman said going to her window. Then looked back "You should listen to your partner"

"Yeah?" Karen asked then she blinked and he was gone, she ran to her window and saw his cape disappear over a roof top "You should smile more" she shouted, then slammed the window and locked it.

"Lucky I wasn't armed, Mr. I'm-so-mysterieous-I-have-the-right-to-try-and-give-people-heartattacks. . . dumbass" Karen said to one of the fuzzy Batman pictures.

_Talking to photos_ she thought to herself _great now you really are nuts. Bedtime, screw loose._

Scrubbing coffee out of an ancient coffee pot was like polishing cow crap, you could make that cow pie as shiny as a new nickel and it would still be a cow pie. Karen finished after what seemed to be forever and the guys helped her put it back together and she sat at her desk with a fresh cup and looked over the new autopsy reports.

But before she could so much as open the first folder her cell phone buzzed. She took the call.

"Speak" Karen said

"Detective Larsing" the dispatch woman said "we have another body on West 8th and Grange Avenue, in a dumpster behind the old movie theater."

"When" Karen asked

"The body was found fifteen minutes ago, CSU is already on route" the woman said

"Thanks, we'll be there in ten" Karen said just as her partner Jenny Davidson walked in. "body at the old movie theater on Grange Avenue"

"Crap" Jenny cursed "and I wanted to get a head start on this paper work"

"I think we'll be swimming in the stuff until we catch this bastard" Karen said

"Then for the sake of my brain and hand, lets catch him" Jenny said jingling the car keys.

The tape was up and the evidence was already being processed by the time Karen and Jenny made it to the crime scene. Looking up at the movie theater Karen cracked a smile

"I remember my dad used to bring me here" Karen said as they ducked under the tape. "Too bad the place had to close down"

"Too many people robbed it" Jenny shrugged, pulling on gloves and waving to Harvey Bullock.

"What do we have?" Karen asked as they approached, Harvey sneering at her.

"Hold your horses" Bullock said "Batman's number one fan can do that much"

Karen glared at Bullock as he chewed on his toothpick. Ever since making Detective, Karen had been ridiculed by a few of them, Bullock in particular with her studies of Batman. Bullock wanted Batman behind bars, even though Gordon had pardoned him and on that Karen and Bullock butted heads, a lot.

"No cigar today Bullock?" Karen shot back. Everyone on the force knew that his doctor had told him to quit the cigars; they were cheap and had all sorts of health hazardous junk in them. And in Gotham you never knew if something was laced into the tobacco.

Bullock glared at her and chewed the toothpick harder.

"Alright" Jenny said "let's all just stop playing 'Mine's Bigger' before the body turns to dust. Okay?"

"Fine" Bullock muttered "victims name is Savannah White, a kid in her early to mid twenties, signs of abuse, and CSU found this clutched in her hand" Bullock held up an evidence bag with another crystal, though this one was a smoky blue, instead of black like the first one.

"A signature?" Jenny asked Karen who shook her head.

"No the last victim also had a death grip on the crystal" Karen said "and only two crystals out of ten bodies? There were signs that the last victim had been running through mud . . . what about this victim?"

"I don't know about mud" Bullock grunted "but take a look for yourself"

Karen knelt at the body's feet and pulled back the tarp, revealing black feet, with trickles of congealed blood.

"Definitely running" Jenny said and Karen nodded, and then noticed something shiny in one of the cuts. Pulling one of the CSU supply kits towards her she pulled out tweezers and dug into the victims cut.

The piece of glass that came out was roughly half an inch thick and Karen noticed other pieces of glass and rock imbedded in the soles of her feet,

"She must have been so desperate" Karen murmured, showing Bullock and Jenny the bloody glass. She bagged and tagged the piece and handed it off to a CSU officer standing by.

"Poor girl" Jenny said "she must have been out of her mind with fear"

Karen went to the head of the victim and pulled back the tarp, just as the M.E. was pulling out the body bag. The girl was beautiful, or would be if the expression of absolute terror was not frozen on her face. Karen stood then anger seizing her and stormed back to the car, ripping of her gloves.

"Karen?" Jenny asked walking with her. "Don't you want to hear what the M.E. has to say?"

"I already know" Karen said "she was run to near death then slashed across the throat, she will show signs of torture and rape, and her system might even have drugs in it still, if she was captured in the last few days."

"Karen, where are you going?" Jenny asked

"We are going back to the precinct" Karen said, opening the car door "and we are catching this son of a bitch, dead of alive."


	4. Chapter 4

Gordon flipped on the signal, glancing at Karen who was sitting by the door, files spread around her, muttering to herself.

"Are you sure" Gordon asked her.

"I have to be" Karen said not looking at him "Jen and me mapped the crime scenes, the first eight bodies were dumped, the last two escaped from whoever kidnapped them. There is a central point, a construction site. We made some calls, the constructions been put on hold due to budget cuts. But they did manage to finish the foundation and the basement."

"But are you sure that's where he is" Gordon asked.

"I think it's where the victims are" Karen said gathering up the files.

"Interesting theory" Batman's voice said

"Nice of you to join us" Karen said without looking up. "Now what I can't figure out is what is so damn important about these crystals. Why would the victims take them from their captor, they had no value, at least no marketable value, and nothing like these have been in the victims possession before. And they are both practically identical in all but color" Karen threw down the picture of the crystals and covered her face.

"What do you think" Gordon said and Karen looked up to him looking at Batman.

"That Detective Larsing is onto something" Batman said looking from Gordon to her "and that she might becoming obsessed"

"Obsessed?" Karen asked angrily, standing and glaring at Batman "We had another body today, Savannah White, a college student. Do you want to know what she wanted to be? A nurse, she wanted to save lives, but because of some screw loose, she will never get the chance. So hell yes I'm obsessed, and you can take your batarangs and shove them where the sun don't shine if you don't like it" Karen gathered up her case files

"I'll check out the construction site" Batman said to Gordon

"You won't find anything" Karen said "two victims have escaped, he may not care about getting caught, but he certainly cares about his victims getting away from him. Evidence shows that he raped Savannah before killing her, and the man before had been drawn and quartered, before he had his throat slashed. This bastard is going to move, somewhere more secure"

"Is that a theory or opinion Larsing" Gordon asked

"neither" Karen said "it is my diagnosis of this monster, whatever he is taking from these people he needs to survive, the fact that he enjoys it makes him twice as dangerous. I'm going to that site, sir, the victims' families want justice and frankly I do too. If I'm not at my desk at noon tomorrow, you know where to find my body"

And without a backward glance she left the two men on the roof.

Putting the files in the archives she threw on her duster and went to the parking lot, and as she opened her car door she heard the rustle of fabric and was not surprised to look up and find the Batman glaring at her.

"You shouldn't go alone" Batman muttered

"Look who's talking" Karen said "last I checked you do that all the time"

Batman held up a set of keys and Karen checked her duster pocket, sure enough they were gone.

"Screw you" Karen grumbled slamming her door shut and began walking to the stair way. She could walk; a little exercise would do her some good.

"Go home Detective" Batman said, his voice carrying in the dark quiet parking garage. Karen stopped and turned to him.

"You know, people say you are the greatest Detective in the world" Karen said "that you know things about people"

Batman said nothing just looked at her.

"Well I wonder if you looked me up" Karen said "my father was a homicide Detective, like me, and my mother was the creator of the soup kitchen down in the Narrows before Crane was ever even heard of. Do you know how they died? Some robbers ducked in the soup kitchen and killed my parents as they were cleaning up. And I found them. That's why I'm a cop to stop senseless violence like that from ever happening to another person again."

Batman looked at her as she glared at him and to her surprise threw her keys to her.

Reflexively she caught them, staring at him then looking at her keys. Looking up Batman was gone.

Karen didn't care; she ran back to her car and started it, peeling out of the garage like a street racer.

Rain began coming down, at first it was a sprinkle then it began pouring. Karen knew that whatever foot prints and blood outside the shell of a building was now long gone.

"Please," she prayed "let there be something, something I can use"

She reached the site and taking off her duster she pulled her wind breaker from the back seat and put it on, pulling the hood up.

The rain was coming down in buckets, limiting Karen's visibility. Pulling out her gun and flashlight from her glove box and grabbing another ammunition clip she climbed out of her car.

Approaching the gate, Karen saw the padlock had been cut through.

"Not a lock pick are you?" she muttered, taking out one of the many spare evidence bags she kept on her and bagged it.

Throwing the pieces of lock in her car she proceeded onto the site. The crane loomed huge as she made her way to the clear plastic covering what was going to be the front entrance.

"No one's here"

The voice though familiar was so unexpected that she had her gun and flashlight trained on him before she even registered that she knew his voice.

"Stop doing that" Karen hissed as Batman looked at her.

"Habit" he muttered

Karen took a moment to breathe then sighed

"Are you sure no one's here?" she asked

Batman nodded.

"well, no offense, but I want to see for myself" Karen said and she approached the plastic covered door, now rippling as the rain hit it, her gun raised and her flashlight trained in front of her. Shouldering past the plastic she crept in, checking to her left and right, then continuing on in.

The insulation was installed in a few of the walls but several were still stud skeletons, the shadows cast making her alert and on edge.

"Hold it" a female voice said behind her and Karen turned and pointed her gun at. . .

Batgirl

Great Karen thought.

"Batgirl, stand down" Batman's voice said behind her, and Karen tuned and glared at him "this is Detective Larsing"

"Oh, sorry Detective" Batgirl came forward, and smiled. And Karen snorted.

"Great" Karen muttered "what did you bring Bathound too?" then shook her head and continued.

"What a warm welcome" Batgirl muttered

"I heard that" Karen said and approached what according to the plans sent over by Gotham Construction Inc. was the basement door. Pulling out a glove she put her flashlight in her mouth and pulled it on then opened the door, slowly.

Clearing the stairwell, Karen crept down, with Batgirl and Batman shadowing her. Karen pressed to the wall and peeked around the corner then seeing nothing checked the other way.

As the trio exited the stairwell it was obvious that the basement itself was a complex.

"Shit" Karen muttered

"Looks like we're splitting up" Batgirl muttered.

"I don't like it" Batman muttered.

"How about this, Bats, I go with the Detective, and you go that way?" Batgirl said "between us I'm pretty sure we can take whatever we come across"

"And if it's that murdering bastard, I'm taking him in" Karen sad already moving heading toward the westward side of the building.

"I'll keep an eye on her" Batgirl muttered to Batman.

"Good" Batman said and went in the opposite direction.

Karen and Batgirl crept deeper into the complex of rooms and doors.

"What was this building going to serve as?" Batgirl wondered aloud

"A research facility of some sort, that's why this place is like a maze" Karen answered.

"Do not like me or something?" Batgirl asked "I mean I know I'm not Batman, but. . . "

"Batman is my problem" Karen said "not you, sorry"

"Oh" Batgirl whispered "why"

"He stole my car keys" Karen said "no one steals my car keys, and then called me obsessive"

"Really?' Batgirl looked like she wanted to laugh "like he should talk"

"Shush" Karen said suddenly freezing; Batgirl shut up and looked at Karen expectantly. A smell, a familiar smell had faintly reached her nose. "Do you smell that?"

Batgirl sniffed a couple of times then nodded,

"Ammonia and alcohol" she said then put her finger to where her ear was covered."Batman we might have something,"

Karen began moving forward and Batgirl grabbed her shoulder.

"Wait for Batman" she said

"No" Karen said "I'm a big girl, I don't need him to hold my hand" and Karen tiptoed into the room, moving quickly to the left and right, checking that no one was just inside the door, waiting for her. She proceeded farther into the room and carefully stepped around the pools of blood, only hours old, and past the newly cleaned stainless steel examination table and past a counter with a sink, covered with bloody instruments some she recognized and several she didn't, the sink filled with ammonia and alcohol and water and a few of the instruments in the bottom of the sink.

"Clear here" Batgirl said on the other side of the room.

"Yeah clear" Karen said after she checked the small closet. Holstering her gun she turned and went back to the counter. "Good God, look at this stuff"

"And all this blood" Batgirl said.

"This is a fleshing knife" Karen said in horror "it's used to skin animals,"

"He was skinning his victims?" Batgirl sounded sickened

"In a sense" Karen said "since taking this case, I have had to research torture methods, and one required a fleshing knife, it's called flaying, where strips of skin are peeled away from the body but left attached"

"That's disgusting," Batgirl said kneeling next to the largest pool of blood, "there are marks under this, it looks like he's keeping his other victims in cages"

"And you'll be joining them" a deep voice said just before pain ripped through Karen's skull.

And Karen's world went back.


	5. Chapter 5

Karen could feel something brushing her cheek as she dragged herself out of the darkness, her head throbbing painfully. She opened her eyes, and her vision was filled with a nightmare.

A pale man stood over her, stroking her cheek. his dark eyes stared at her hungrily.

Karen realized she was on an examination table, her wrists and ankles cuffed, her windbreaker was missing as was her gun and holster.

"Ah, welcome Detective" his voice was deep and smooth, a voice that women fantasized about. And Karen hated it. "I'm glad you are awake."

Karen heard a whimper in the darkness that the dim light from what seemed to be a window could not perforate. She pulled at the cuffs, testing her bonds, they were steel and welded to the table, and as the man walked around her she could just barely see a lock on each.

"Who are you" Karen asked her voice hoarse.

"I?" he laughed as though she had told him a joke "I am the Bogey Man, the monster that children see in their closets"

"you're a sicko" Karen said.

"You may call me Torment" the man said with a handsome smile that Karen wanted to smack off his face.

"a fitting name" Karen said "you enjoy it after all"

"ah you have seen my work" Torment said going to a tray with several instruments laid out precisely on it. he picked up a scalpel and inspected it then replaced it.

"I've seen the death you leave behind in your pursuit of whatever these people have that you need so desperately" Karen retorted.

"So you are as clever as you are beautiful" Torment said standing at her head and she jerked away as he stroked her hair. "but don't speak as though you were not one of them, for my dear you are, and you are far more powerful than any of those that I have come across before"

"Don't touch me" Karen snarled and again Torment laughed

"oh my dear, you are in my hands, you have no say in what happens to you" Torment said.

_Construction Site/Crime Scene_

Gordon rubbed his eyes as he watched CSU process the crime scene. It was a nightmare, there was blood everywhere, and now the man who had used this hell hole to torture his victims had one of his people. It could not get any worse, he just hopped that at least one man would be able to catch this guy. The Batman off by himself with Batgirl hovering over him, collecting his own samples.

"I can't believe I let him sneak up on us" Batgirl muttered as Batman gathered Karen's blood.

"blaming yourself doesn't find her" Batman said.

"Why are you gathering her blood" Batgirl asked "we already know who's it is"

"He took her" Batman said "it's possible she has the something in common with his captives. It might be in her DNA"

"and what if he took her because she's hunting him like a cat would a mouse" Batgirl said

"he could have killed her" Batman pointed out.

"yeah I know" Batgirl paced.

"We're done here" Batman said and Batgirl followed him to the Batmobile, three blocks over, leaving the police to clean up.

"so?" Batgirl asked as he climbed into the car.

"I'll let you know"

"that's what you say all the time" Batgirl said

Batman didn't answer, merely closed the car and started the engine.

"I'm beginning to agree with Detective Larsing" Batgirl muttered

Batman pulled back his cowl and patched in to the Batcave.

"Alfred" he said

"Yes Master Bruce?" his butler answered.

"Detective Larsing has been kidnapped" Bruce Wayne said

"Good Lord" Alfred said "by Joker?"

"No, this new serial killer" he said "I'll be there in a few minutes, I have some tests to run"

"Yes sir"

Bruce Wayne had his eyes to a microscope a few minutes later.

"Anything sir?" Alfred said behind him , holding a tray of food.

"No" he said "whatever he wants it's not in their genetics"

Bruce patched the picture through to the monitor and zoomed in.

"so what is he after?" Bruce muttered to himself.

"Sir I realize that this is all terribly important" Alfred said "but you won't find those missing people without some proper rest"

"I'm busy"

"Sir I must insist" Alfred stood in front of him as he tried to go back to the microscope.

Bruce glared at Alfred but the old sophisticated man was not impressed.

"Fine"

"you can brood while you eat, and I'll turn down the bed"

_Unknown Location_

Karen screamed as the scalpel dug into her hand and Torment, twisting the blade, began separating her metacarpals.

"You know" Torment said as he finished, and she stopped screaming "when I realized what the secret to immortality was, I never realized that I would enjoy it so much. It is so satisfying to see how far humans will go to stop the pain. And it never ceases to surprise me when I come across people like you, you scream and scream and scream but never once do you ask for things to stop. . .at first. And you don't even know what you are protecting"

Karen's breathing was ragged and heavy as he picked up the scalpel again.

"oh I won't use this again" Torment said seeing her eyes never moving from it. "no I will use this"

And from his pocket he pulled out a crystal. The same sort of crystal that Savannah white had. Only this one was clear.

"there were no traces" Karen swallowed, her heart rate shooting through the roof. "of physical evidence on . . . the crystals"

"I know" Torment grinned. "now a rational analyst such as yourself will think what I am about to do impossible. And I shall not try to explain, you will never believe me. I find it ironic, you know, your ancestors tried to pass down their knowledge to you, but your science and research gave you a false sense of security, blotting out your instincts and common sense."

"You're insane" Karen hissed

"oh yes, that is a distinct possibility" Torment said "but it doesn't change facts. Now this will hurt quite a bit."

And he held the crystal over her

Karen felt as though she was being ripped apart, her vision blurred and her ears were filled with a horrible screaming. It felt as though her spine was being pulled through her body, as though her guts were being twisted and yanked and her muscles were being pulled apart fiber by fiber. Her skull was splitting with pain, her brain was frying and her blood was boiling. It seemed to go on for eternity; it was a never ending pain. Then just as suddenly it was gone.

Karen was drenched in sweat, she couldn't catch her breath and was her body throbbing as one ache. Her vision focused and blurred as she tried to see what was going on around her.

"Curious" Torment said, it was not a taunt, he wasn't even talking to Karen, he truly sounded puzzled Karen opened her eyes and tried desperately to make sense of what she saw.

The crystal was glowing with a white light so bright that it reached ever dark corner illuminating the three cages on the far wall. There was a man, an older woman and a teenager, the teenager was sleeping or dead, and the other two were staring at Karen and Torment.

"so pure a color" Torment murmured as he held it up to the moonlight, "it is not even a clouded crystal as most. Fascinating. Yes, this will keep me alive for several years."

"What did you do to me?" Karen rasped, she had not had water for several hours and her throat was beginning to hurt.

"Why my clever little Detective, haven't you figured it out yet?" Torment said putting his lips close to her ear. "I have stolen the one thing that all of you cretins have in common, your magic"

"Magic" Karen repeated. "you're crazy"

"Am I?" Torment said "yet I have witnessed Egypt erect the pyramids, I was there when Moses parted the Red Sea, I have watched Greece and Rome rise and fall, I was on the Mayflower, draining the passengers to survive, I fought in the Revolutionary War, I helped Booth hatch his plan to assassinate Abraham Lincoln and on and on, I have lived what you would call history. What do you think of that"

"I think you deserve to be in a straight jacket" Karen said hoarsely "I think you think you've lived all these things, and that what your holding is just a night light"

"you insult yourself" Torment whispered "For this is you" and he held up the crystal. He stood and placing the sharp edge against the belly of his forearm, where Karen saw it littered with horizontal lines. Drawing it across he didn't even blink as he cut deep, then his entire face lit up and the immense pleasure that filled his face sickened her, it reminded her of how he had looked after he had broken her left arm.

He inhaled deeply as though taking in an incredibly addictive aroma, and closed his eyes. And Karen watched in disbelief as the light dimmed in the crystal and went into Torment's self inflicted wound and she could see it thought his skin as the light traveled across his body then faded.

Torment sighed and opened his eyes and the hunger in his eyes sent a fear through her like nothing else had. He looked at her like she was a feast, and he the starving man. She pulled at her cuffs she didn't want him touching her, didn't want to be anywhere near him.

"You should be honored, proud even, never have I felt such power" Torment whispered, "and from all that I have observed in you, it never leaves, it will take me years to completely drain you as I have others, I shall keep you. And you shall keep me alive and young for years to come" Torment put the crystal in a small box on the tray next to the scalpel.

"No" Karen screamed, the pain in her arm and hand was excruciating but she didn't care she wanted out, wanted away. Picking up a syringe Torment stuck her in the arm and pushed the plunger down.

She could feel the drug slowing her down, sucking her strength away as she fought her bonds, growing more desperate. But after a few minutes her limbs became as heavy as lead, numb even, her brain fuzzy. She was still conscious but her perception was distorted, barely feeling his skin as he picked her up from the table after he unlocked her cuffs.

But she could hear. Every little sound, her own slowed breathing, the splash of his shoes in the pool of her blood from her hand, the splatter of drops from her hand, the harsh breathing of Torment and the scrabbling of the others in their cages, all she could hear.

She barely felt him throw her in the fourth cage, barely felt it as she slammed into the metal. But she could hear the sickening crack of her shoulder and two pinpricks of pain.

"Same time tomorrow" Torment said

"Coward" the man yelled "you won't even meet her on even terms, you're so scared of her."

"Ah Dustin my most defiant and least powerful prisoner" Torment said "all piss and moan I believe the kids say these days"

"Bastard" the man named Dustin spit out.

"Sweet dreams my pets" Torment called and there was a slamming door and then silence.

"is he gone?" a young voice whispered

"Yeah Kali" the older woman said "but not for long"

There was a heavy silence, during which Karen's drug was wearing off.

"I wish I had never run away" the girl whispered

"enough Kali" Dustin said "we need to figure out a way to get out."

Karen groaned as the drug faded and cried out as the pain hit her.

"Son of a bitch" she hissed holding her arm against her stomach as she slowly sat up. "I swear if he screwed up my shooting arm I'll kill that shit eating rat"

"welcome back Detective" Dustin said

"Karen" she said tersely, "and I never left, heard the whole mother fucking thing. And do you have any stout pieces of wood or metal" she hissed as she tried ripping up a piece of her shirt. And kicked the side of her cage "Damn him"

"here" Dustin said, hand her two stakes. "luckily he didn't think to clean up yet. These were lying by Kali's cage next to a bunch of palettes"

"thanks" Karen said gritting her teeth as she tried wrapping her ruined hand around them. but when she tried to close her fingers around them there was too much pain to even flex them.

"Hold still" Dustin said "I'll do it"

Karen nodded and turned her broken left forearm to him. he put the stakes on either side of her arm and one handed tied them together, with strips of an old oil cloth found next to the stakes. The splint lessened the pain to a degree, but unfortunately the was feeling her hand even more.

"Jesus" Dustin muttered "what did he do to your hand"

"Stabbed it and separated the metacarpals" Karen said

"how are you still talking" the girl named Kali said

"cause she's tough" the older woman said

"Are you really a Detective" Kali asked

"Detective Karen Larsing, Homicide, Criminal Psychologist and profiler" Karen said in rapid fire. "I was investigating the homicides that this mother fucker has been leaving around my city. The last two were incongruous to the first eight and-"

"whoa we don't need a life story" Kali said

"shush" Dustin said "I want hear this"

"there was evidence that they had escaped from wherever they had been held" Karen said, she knew she was rambling, she was trying not to think about the pain about Torment and his sickeningly handsome face. "asphalt and broken glass is pretty common in Gotham, it was the ninth victim that tipped me off as to where Torment was holding and torturing his victims. There was mud and metal shards in the lower legs of Javier Sanchez, there is only one place that would have all those materials, a construction site. Mapping out the where the bodies were found we managed to pinpoint the exact location."

"Savannah, what happened to her" Dustin asked suddenly and Karen could hear the hope, the fear, the worry. And she knew that she was about to do the worst part of her job.

"I'm sorry, but Savannah didn't make it" Karen said

Dustin was quiet for a second then he screamed and banged on the door of his cage in rage, blind, grief stricken rage then with on final hit he buried his head in his arms and sobbed.

"I'm truly sorry, Dustin" Karen whispered

"if she couldn't get through what hope do the rest of us have" the older woman said

"there is hope" Karen said "lucky for you I have a friend, I just need to send him a signal"

In the dim light she could just make out a dirty blanket in Dustin's cage.

"Rip a big piece off of that" Karen said looking around for the first time. "it looks like we're in a warehouse, " she touched the floor, it was damp, cold and under the smell of ammonia and sweat she could make out a faint fishy smell. "and not that far from the docks. I can smell fish, lets hope it's cloudy"

"what are you talking about" Kali asked, but Karen was thinking too fast to answer. Reaching through the bars she felt the lock and was astonished to find it an old fashioned lock, the kind that used a skeleton key.

"well not only is he the worlds worst lock pick, he's also the worst security guard in the history of forever" Karen said gleefully. Holding her splint out to Dustin she asked "will you pull off a splinter about two inches long and a couple centimeters thick. I can pick the lock, it'll hurt but I can get out and send a signal"

"what kind of sgnal" the old woman asked

"one that will attract a couple of bats" Karen said through gritted teeth as she pushed her wrist through the bars and began working at the lock, the muscles in her forearm flexing as she twisted her wrist around, causing lances of pain to stab at her, but she kept going, carefully feeling the mechanisms of the lock then she found the pin and pushed against it gently,

"got it" Karen said in relief as the lock sprang." hand me the fabric. And tear off another piece too." Karen's hand was bleeding again. She didn't want to leave a trail just in case Batman didn't come that night.

"here" Dustin said handing her the pieces through the bars. Karen wrapped her hand carefully, tears pouring down her face as did, god it hurt. She ran to the window and pushed a crate under it, then waited just in case she was wrong and Torment wasn't gone, then she jumped up and scrambled onto the crate and looked around, she knew she had seen some.

There, the Band-Aids she had seen him use when he had missed her thrashing hand and cut his own, shallow but deep enough to bleed. Leaning over to that crate, she scooped them up and using the moonlight she began arranging the fabric in the shape of a small bat.

Now for a light.

"a bat?" Kali asked

"you know the Batman" Dustin asked

"in passing" Karen said distractedly "he was helping me with this case, had the audacity to call me obsessed, but he might have been right"

Her eyes fell on the small box that held the crystal that Torment had used earlier.

"better than nothing" Karen muttered and jumping down, hissing as she hit the ground she went around to the tray and grabbed the box. Bringing it back to the window she opened it.

It was bright like a flood light and as Karen touched it, the light inside the crystal pulsed like a heartbeat in response to her touch. She raised her arm, wincing as the muscles flexed around the fracture, but held the light behind it.

And a faint but distinguishable Batsignal could be seen huge and looming out the window against the dark clouds.

"Yes" the older woman exalted

"he's not here yet" Karen said.

Several minutes she stood there, then suddenly the door burst open.

"how dare you" Torment screamed, his face contorted in rage and hatred that Karen had never thought was humanly possible to feel in one person. He flew at her but she side stepped and held up the crystal, pulsing with Karen's own quickened heart beat, stopping Torment dead in his tracks.

"you need this don't you" Karen said backing up slowly, buying time. He had to have seen it. He had to be on his way.

"you wouldn't dare" Torment said

"oh you would be surprised at what I would dare to do" Karen said. "like, oh I don't know, destroy this night light?" and Karen mimed dropping it and Torment went white.

Suddenly a shadow went across the window behind Torment, a familiar and very welcome shadow.

"I have no use for a paper weight" Karen went on as though she had seen nothing

There was a crash as Batman broke through the roof, surprising Torment who turned and screamed in rage, running at the Dark Knight like a wild animal.

Karen ran to the cages and began working franticly at the locks. Then Batgirl was there,

"here let me" Batgirl said and she had all three prisoner's out within a minute.

"NOO" the scream was close, and as Karen turned she saw a fist come at her and felt the sharp pain of the punch. It sent her flying into a crate, spraining her ankle as she tried to stop herself, the pain nearly rendering her insensible.

But she still held the crystal and a she shook her head, she saw that Batman was not faring well against Torment, whose mad rage gave him the edge of being unpredictable. Batgirl was pushing out the other three but had to fend off Torment in the moments that he got the better of Batman.

The crystal Karen realized

"Hey" Karen shouted and Torment froze, turning to her, slobbering and heaving in rage. She held up the crystal and smiled at him.

"NO" Torment zeroed in on her and charged, but he was too slow as she threw it down with every ounce of strength she possessed.

And the world filled with light and heat.

Then nothing.


	6. Chapter 6

Beep, Beep

Karen was dragged from the darkness by that persistent and steady beep. It was so annoying; Jack must have messed with her phone again and changed the alarm.

Beep, Beep

She went to reach for it blindly but she couldn't lift her arms.

Scratch that she couldn't feel her arms.

Beep, Beep

Why couldn't she feel her arms?

Beep, Beep

The last thing she remembered . . .

Karen jerked to full awareness as her memories came flooding back in a rush. The murders, the construction site, Batman, the man who called himself Torment.

She looked around and the beeping increased slightly as she remembered what had happened. Her arm was in a cast and her hand was bandaged thickly. Her ankle ached and was wrapped

Karen could feel her pulse slowing with the beeping and she looked down, there in her arm was an IV line, hooked to what she assumed was antibiotics and a heart monitor next to her bed.

And before she could look around further her hospital doo opened and the polyester pillow case cracked and rustled as Karen tired to get a good look at the nurse that walked in.

"Good your awake, just let me check everything and I'll go and get the doctor" the nurse said brightly and she did just that shushing Karen when she tried to ask questions, checking her blood pressure and that there were no air bubbles in the tubing or bag, then left, leaving Karen frustrated beyond belief.

Karen lay back as she waited for the doctor.

The crystal it had shattered, she remembered that before all the whiteness and pain then the darkness that she had just woken from. She tried not to dwell on Torment and his captives but she wanted to know if they had gotten out safely, if she could talk to them, find out what kind of timeline that Torment operated on.

She wanted to make sure that the bastard had been taken into custody or if he had escaped. It was irritating being bed ridden, and if she tried to get off the heart monitor and find out for herself, the doctors would certainly notice her absence.

She was just starting to brood when the doctor came in all professional like.

"What happened, where am I? What happened to the other captives? And is that monster in custody?" Karen's rapid fire questions flew from her lips like bullets before the doctor had any chance to shush her.

"Calm down Detective, my name is Doctor Green" the doctor said "to answer your questions, you are at Gotham Central Hospital, recovering from several severe injuries. Shrapnel, fractures and a badly sprained ankle. We are keeping the others here, they are recovering nicely, sometime with a psychologist will do them good. As for the man that did this to you, yes he is in Gotham P.D.'s custody. Now do you feel any pain?"

"Sir no offense but I can't really feel anything" Karen said sullenly and the doctor chuckled.

"Well you will"" the doctor said

"What was that about shrapnel?" Karen asked

"There were crystal shards embedded in your skin and some even hit some internal organs. You were very lucky to live and that none of it pierced the skull" Doctor Green said grimly "we managed to pull all the shrapnel out of you and you are recovering remarkably"

"So when will I be fit for duty?" Karen asked but before the good doctor could answer Gordon came in and answered for him.

"You will not be on duty for several months, Detective Larsing" Gordon said "until you have passed a psyche evaluation and you are fully recovered"

Karen bit her lip and kept the retort down. Not work, that was like telling a guard dog not to guard,

"I realize that this is what you don't want to hear" Gordon said and Karen glared at him

"Damn straight" Karen said "what about that bastard that did this to me and worse to others?"

"He's in custody" Gordon said

"Yeah I heard" Karen said "I mean what are you going to do with him, interrogate him on the other victims, he made it sound as though he has done this more than once"

"We are working on it" Gordon said

"Damn it Gordon don't patronize me" Karen said "you know I'm the best psychological profiler you have, and you know damn well."

"Karen you are off duty"

"I don't have to question him as a police officer" Karen said "I have the schooling I could have become a psychologist easily."

Gordon sighed and shook his head.

"I see that you aren't going to be swayed" Gordon said

"nope" Karen said shortly "I will do all of what you want of me, so long as you let me interrogate him at least once, something just doesn't sit right about his capture, sir"

"I'll arrange something" Gordon said "but after, you are on suspension until I have paperwork deliver directly to me by your doctor and shrink before I let back on the force"

Karen reluctantly agreed and lay back in the pillows as the doctor proceeded to check her stitches and cast.

The next few days were gruelingly boring and Karen almost wished she had been killed by the blast.

Jack Jane and Helen had visited, Jane with her big blue eyes burbled and mumble vaguely and laughed as she sat on Karen's lap, while Jack filled her in on what was going on in the precinct and Helen told her of all the hilarious misadventures of her students. Soon Karen's room began filling with balloons flowers and gifts. The most surprising gifts of all were the families of the three she had saved had come to greet her and thank her personally.

Then the victims' families had done the same a few days later, thanking her for bringing their loved ones justice.

Karen felt guilty accepting that thanks, she still felt that justice had yet to be served, and she felt that the capture had been too easy.

But Gordon still did not take her to interrogate Torment and finally after she had been released from the hospital she bullied Jack into driving her to the precinct. And there Gordon was conversing in a low voice with one of Arkhams psychologists

It took a moment for those there to notice that she was ambling in but when they did there was such an uproar that Gordon had no chance to order her to leave. Jen ran over with her chair and pushed her into it then began wheeling her around with a basket, which was soon fi8lled to the brim with get well cards and small gifts, everything from her favorite kind of candy to a t-shirt that said "Keep Calm and Shoot the Bastard"

Finally she was wheeled before the Captain, Chief of Police, and Commissioner Gordon.

"You did say you would arrange something" Karen reminded him. "I want to know what he picked me and if we can pin a pattern"

Gordon looked at her a moment and nodded

"I can't fault you, but if I see you get angry or upset, we pull you, Got it" Gordon fixed her with a penetrating look and Karen nodded.

Jen wheeled her to the interrogation room and then dragged the chair back looking worried, to which Karen gave her a reassuring look.

Karen could handle Torment, now that he didn't have her on a table.

Gordon preceded her into the room and Karen limped in after him. Torment didn't look up until she had sat down across from him.

The smile he wore was chilling

"Welcome Detective" Torment said and Karen rolled her eyes.

"Oh Detective is it?" Karen asked "I thought we meant more to each other than that"

"Oh don't you worry, Karen" Torment whispered "our time will come"

"Enough" Gordon said "I want to know what you did to the other bodies, we found DNA that didn't match any of your victims" Torment smiled and leaned back looking serene.

"Oh you'll never find them." Torment said with that unbearably handsome smile that never reached his cold eyes. "I drained them so completely. I only let you find those bodies"

Karen watched Torment closely and she knew he was telling the truth . . . so why had he been so out of this world enraged when Batman had come crashing in? That behavior did not match the cold calculating sadist that sat in front of her. It did not match the man that had so brutally raped and tortured and murdered all those men and women.

And she remembered a moment when he had turned and seen that she had the crystal, for a moment in the blank astonishment she had seen not the rabid animal, but the cold intelligence calculating the outcomes of what she was about to do.

She watched him and he watched Gordon, but he did not look at Gordon with that hungry look that he had held to her and the other victims, he spoke without fear or rage. He had not one jot of self preservation about him; no threats would loosen his tongue if he didn't want to say something.

So why was he here?

The interrogation did not leave Gordon or Karen very satisfied. And it had taken all Karen had not to strangle the smug bastard as he described in loving detail each and every one of his victims for at least the past year.

"Well?" Gordon asked

"he's mad" Karen said "he takes pleasure from hurting people, but the thing is he seems to not be afraid to be here, like Joker, but all of this doesn't explain why he went berserk when I called for Batman"

"Maybe it's Batman" Gordon suggested

"When I mentioned him I saw nothing to suggest that Batman was the cause of it" Karen said "no twitch or spark in the eyes, no fidget, nothing"

"Well" Gordon said "back to square one?"

"Not quite" Karen muttered and Gordon looked at her.

"I need to sleep on it before I run it by you, it might just be my imagination" Karen said and Gordon nodded then sighed.

:"Go on get out of here" Gordon said "we'll manage without you for a few months at least"

" Yes sir" Karen said and before she knew it all her co workers had gathered around and were forcing her into her desk chair again all of them laughingly threatening to shoot her if she ever came back before she was recovered.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the long update guys, been busy training for a new job. Please Read and Review.**

"Son of bitch, Karen" jack exclaimed "how in the hell did you manage to beat me . . . again"

"Work on your poker face, Jack" Karen grinned pulling some of the vanilla wafers toward her. "Maybe then you'll actually win and I'll have to get the takeout"

"You had an ace up your sleeve, you had to" Jack complained bitterly, gathering up the cards.

"Well be glad, Jackie" Karen teased "that I'm too broke to play with real chips"

"Yeah, yeah" Jack muttered "so how you holding up?"

"Most of the stitches are out, thank God" Karen said "all but my arm and my hand and the deepest of the shrapnel wounds are all healed"

"And how's the other's healing up?" Jack asked

And Karen quickly stuffed a bunch of wafers in her mouth to keep from answering.

Three weeks, and each week she visited Doctor Green, who seemed fascinated with her condition.

Instead of healing slowly, at a rate that would normally leave her months out of the office, her bones each week looked as though she had gotten the injuries several weeks ago. Next week at this rate she would have all but the casts off. It was nothing short of rare to say the least.

"Alright, hack it up Karen" Jack said, noticing her avoidance of the subject. Swallowing Karen sighed she couldn't ignore his question, Jack would have made a good Detective had Joker not taken his eye, the man was so persistent he made Yin look like a beat cop sometimes.

"Here" Karen said unsure of how to explain her rapidly healing injuries to him. She grabbed the X-rays from the chair next to her and slid them to him.

Jack studied them carefully with his good eye and after a few moments put it down.

"This shouldn't be possible" Jack muttered "Three weeks and you should be having the superficial stitches taken out, and the bones only barely knitting back together. Not half healed already"

"I know that's what I said" Karen muttered "but Doctor Green explained a few statistics, if given the right steroids a body can heal twice as fast as the normal rate. Especially with the new stuff coming out of Star Labs and Wayne's company"

"But you aren't on any steroids" Jack pointed out.

"And he created a vague theory about how the crystal was coated in steroids and that they had gotten into my system" Karen said "he seemed bent on making sure that the whole thing was logical"

"Was the crystal coated in steroids?" Jack asked and Karen shook her head.

"all it had on it was my DNA and Torments, and of his only the barest of traces," Karen said " even if he had been pumping steroids, there would not have been enough in the small drop of blood to affect my recovery like this"

"So it is another mystery surrounding this whole case": Jack said "this guy, he is so nutty that even Dr. Strange doesn't know what to do with him. And the psycho has no problem being captured. If Joker hadn't escaped Gordon would be on him like a terrier would a rat"

"So where is he now" Karen asked sharply and Jack glanced at her.

"In a holding cell, twiddling his thumbs" Jack said "Acting like he's a VIP at some concert rather than in jail and being processed for solitary confinement in prison."

Karen glanced at the fridge, wishing that her medication allowed for her to get a beer out. She needed to take the edge off her anxiety. Something about the self proclaimed Torment's capture still did not sit right with her, but she couldn't put her finger on it just yet, and she saw no point in warning Gordon and causing a false alarm when she couldn't even tell if something was wrong or not.

"So did you see the news last week?" Jack asked as the silence stretched and became uncomfortable. "Mr. Deep Pockets himself, Bruce Wayne adopted that circus kid."

"Yeah I saw" Karen said "I can't imagine how horrible it would be to watch your parents die so gruesomely, I mean falling from a trapeze?"

"Looks like someone unscrewed the nuts that hold the wires on the pegs" Jack said looking relieved that Karen had dropped the subject of her own case.

"It sounds like someone tried to 'protect' the circus and was declined their services" Karen said bitterly "bastards"

"You really hate not being out there, don't you?" Jack said as she sulked in her chair

"You did too, Jack so don't go acting all high and mighty" Karen said "hell it took Helen and I both to get you to at least stay out of the precinct"

"Yeah, yeah" Jack said waving away her scold. Then he got up "well I best get back, Helen's mother is coming to town in the morning, got to be up bright and early to pick her up from the airport. I'll come visit you in a few days, after the in-law is settled in. Night"

"See you later Jack" Karen called as the door closed behind him.

And she was again alone.

She stood and went into her bedroom and began getting ready for bed.

The one good thing about this was that she now got as much sleep as she wanted, but that was about it. She felt so awkward and cumbersome, both her forearms and hands in casts. Her hand had been surgically pieced back together and screwed in place, and her forearm had been set. She thanked all her lucky stars that that insane son of a bitch hadn't broken her shooting hand.

Before she could lay in bed however and on her back no less and watch TV until she fell asleep she suddenly felt a darkness creep into her guts, a burning darkness.

Karen had no other way to describe it, it was like the moon had been shrouded in gray even though it was shining in full brightness into her room.

It was perhaps the most disorienting sensation she had ever felt, and she could feel it watching her.

She turned automatically to the window that led out to the fire escape and climbed through.

There he was standing there as if he had every right to be. And with a very brightly colored and young looking companion as well as Batgirl this time.

Batman looked at her and Karen was so glad she had the foresight to put a robe on. Jack had the tendency to forget stuff at her apartment and she really didn't want her partner to see her in an old ratty t-shirt and lacy underpants. She would never have lived it down.

But that dark sensation was stronger now. And it wasn't a bad darkness, but it wasn't a good darkness either. It spoke of obsession and pain that had festered and scarred more deeply than any physical wound, but there was a certain restraint, a certain . . . nobleness about the darkness and the longer Karen stood there meeting the Batman stare for stare, the stronger the sensation got until inconceivably Karen was sure that it was coming from Batman. And she began feeling more and not just Batman's darkness, but brightness filled with curiosity and mischief, as well as a strong sense of justice but there were flashes of sadness, grief that would not leave. And then a more muted and but unhindered brightness, it spoke of duty and selflessness and it was far more feminine.

How in God's name she was feeling this crap she had no clue, why she was suddenly feeling it she couldn't answer and to be honest she didn't care. She was in the cold, on her fire escape staring at a guy in a bat costume who seemed in no rush to state why he was there.

"Well?" Karen asked finally her ankles cold. She hated standing out here in the middle of the night, and easy target.

"What is Gordon planning to do with Torment?" Batman asked

"I don't know, crack at him when Joker isn't trying to turn Gotham into a demented carnival" Karen snapped back. She was not in the mood for Batman's self righteousness either.

"One of the victims died last night" Batgirl said "he overdosed on anti-depressants and sleeping pills"

Karen felt as if she had been punched and gripped the safety rail hard, her knuckles white. Tears stung her eyes and she looked out to Gotham Harbor.

"Poor Dustin" Karen murmured and the trio stayed silent as she took herself in hand and wiped her tears. "So why are you here?"

"We have been scouting out our underworld contacts" Batgirl continued "but as soon as we mentioned the name Torment, all of them clamed up."

"And?" Karen asked

"Will he attempt to escape" Batman asked and Karen looked out to the river again, thinking back to all that she had ever guessed and all that she knew about Torment.

"I don't know" she said "I know he's planning something, but I do not think it's escaping, at least not yet"

"What do you mean not yet?" The brightly dressed boy asked

"He's waiting for something" Karen said "for what I don't know but he is waiting."

Karen suddenly felt the darkness and two bits of brightness leave her and Karen looked over to find herself alone on the fire escape.

"And I really hate it when you do that" Karen muttered at the empty space.

_**The Batcave**_

"Why were we there Bruce? And who's this torment guy?" Robin asked jumping out of the car.

"A serial murderer" Barbra said pulling back her mask. "Detective Larsing was the lead on his case. She got caught a few weeks ago by him . . . he's the reason she's got both arms in a cast."

Bruce Wayne said nothing, slipping his cowl off and heading to the computer.

"So how did she get away?" Dick Grayson asked "did you find her or did the cops storm the place?"

"We didn't have any leads as to where she was actually" Barbara said "it was all Detective Larsing. She managed somehow to get a piece of cloth, tape it to the window in the shape of a bat and shine a light behind it. Luckily it was cloudy or we would never have seen it"

"She seemed nervous though" Dick said leaning on the computer consol, while Bruce sat in the chair. "Like something was bothering her. Was it us, I noticed that you have that affect on people, Bruce"

"I wouldn't be surprised" Barbara said but Bruce began punching numbers on the computer.

"No Robin's right" Bruce said "Detective Larsing is uneasy about this case. We need to be on alert."

"Do you want me to watch the precinct?" Barbara asked and Batman shook his head.

"No, watch Karen and the other patients" Batman said "they are going to be what he goes after, especially Karen"

"Got it" Barbra said "is that it, I've got finals in the morning?"

"Go" Batman said "Dick and I can handle patrol"


	8. Chapter 8

Six weeks later

"Jen" Karen called her partner over from the dumpster she was crouching behind. Jen stood wiping her hands on her pants and joined Karen by the body. Karen gently turned the man's broken neck ignoring Jen's flinching as it made a slight cracking noise. She pointed to the base of the neck. "What do you see?"

Jen squinted as she tried to make out the small red dot.

"Is that a needle mark?" Jen asked

"Yeah and an old one by the looks of it" Karen said "odd place to stick a needle huh?"

"I'll say" Jen said "let's let the coroners take the body to the morgue and we'll see what really killed him. The needle or the neck"

"Not funny Jen" Karen muttered as Jen grinned.

"Sorry" Jen said "I guess I'm just waiting for you to make morbid jokes with me"

"I'm going back to the precinct"

"I know the doc gave you the free and clear" Jen said walking with her "but you don't seem to have the stomach for the job"

"It's not the job" Karen muttered "it's the death, it's not so funny anymore"

The death, the nothingness that echoed around a crime scene, it hung like a depressing cloud over her. It sucked her in even as she tried to push it away just like all the other new feelings.

Karen had learned to not feel the weird feelings she was getting from people. It wasn't even emotions, it was as though she was sensing them, who they were, and she was beginning to see them.

Not literary see with her eyes, but she would look at someone or feel them and they would be all sorts of different colors that blended into one to from them but not two people were the same. Jen for instance was several different shades of orange and yellow with a streak of a blue purple zigzagging all through her.

And Karen knew why she was like this, Jen was simply that bright, happy person all the time, but the blue, it spoke of a depression a pain that didn't go away.

Now what that pain was Karen had no clue, but it was there and Karen was trying hard to ignore it.

And that wasn't the only thing she was sensing now, people had just been the beginning, now she was sensing everything from the soil under the concrete to the air to the buildings around her.

It was disorienting to say the least but she was learning to control it. She was only glad that as she kept the feelings at bay she had not seen the Batman in a while. His darkness though not frightening, was oppressing and that was the last thing she needed.

She had taken to drinking . . . a lot. Only at night though, because if she didn't she would never sleep, being able to feel every person in her apartment building and she was feeling more as this new sense grew in range and strength. It hardly helped that she lived in the most polluted city in all of America, she could feel the taint of all the industry and the people, could feel it and it made her sick.

She managed to keep it away during the day, but at night when no one was around and she could only obsess over Torment and all these new sensations she would hit the bottle.

Karen knew she was deteriorating rapidly, mentally. The physiologist that had treated her had not seen this because Karen like all those of Gotham was good at hiding things, good at keeping secrets.

Karen had hoped that once she had gotten back to work, she would be able to not think about what had happened that the dreams and the feelings would fade, or at least become muted if she went back to work.

But now only a few days back and she knew that it was only going to get worse, she couldn't handle the loss of life she couldn't remove herself from the thought that the shell in the alley way behind Wayne Enterprises had been human, had once thought and was a creature of life. It nearly physically hurt her to be around this much death.

"Karen" Jen's voice broke through her morbid and depressed thoughts and Karen held back a flinch as she was made aware of her surroundings.

"What" Karen snapped

"Good God woman," Jen said in exasperation "keep going into dream land like that and you might have to take up a permanent residence there."

"Shut up Jen" Karen said "What do you want?"

"Do you want to take the coroner or Mr. Bruce Wayne" Jen asked

"Wayne" Karen said immediately, she had to get away from the body from the death. And who knew Bruce Wayne's good looks might be a great distraction.

"Oh so you really aren't made of stone" Jen teased

"Jen" Karen said shortly "just go"

Karen left her ridiculous partner and went into the service door dodging the CSU technicians and heading though the hall past lab after lab and finally reached the laboratory of the victim.

There stood Bruce Wayne and several of the trustees of his company just outside the door behind the yellow tape. Inside the lab CSU was meticulously bagging and tagging everything from what looked to be the aftermath of a fight.

As Karen neared the group of bureaucrats and businessmen she was suddenly hit with that darkness, the exact same darkness that Batman had. She swallowed and forced herself to not look around for the Batman. And kept herself trained on her next victim of questioning.

But it did not go away, in fact it became stronger as she neared them, and Karen knew without a shadow of doubt that the Batman was one of the businessmen that stood before her. Ducking under the police tape, Karen greeted the trustees and owner of Wayne Enterprises while trying to keep down the bile.

She felt dizzy and her head was beginning to pound a sign that she had been holding the feelings away for too long. But she forced herself to remain normal.

"Mr.' Wayne, step over here if you please" Karen said taking him away from the hawk like gaze of the trustees

"Am I a suspect?" Bruce Wayne joked but Karen did not smile.

"No Mr. Wayne" she said but was interrupted by said man.

"Bruce please, Detective" he said with a charming half smile.

Charming but false, the darkness had gotten much stronger and Karen was now sure that the Batman was standing in front of her trying to sweet talk her.

Bruce Wayne was Batman

And Karen wanted to smack her forehead against the wall for being so stupid

It made perfect sense. The Wayne's had been killed in front of their son by a mugger and who had never been caught. Bruce was then raised by the Wayne's butler, but no matter how caring a butler could be, he hardly was the mother and father that a boy needed. And the rage and pain festered until Bruce Wayne could no longer bear it and so was born the Batman.

The only question Karen had been why bats. Bats were rats with wings, why chose that, why not a panther or some other nocturnal creature.

"Mr. Wayne" Karen continued pushing aside her musings "What exactly did Dr. Granger do for you?"

"He was a member of the Research and Development team for nanite technology" Bruce Wayne answered,

"And why would someone want to kill him?"

"I have no idea Detective" he said "as far as I know he was well liked and respected within my company, and I try not to get in my employees personal lives."

Liar Karen thought.

"Well if we need to ask you anything more we will contact you" Karen said "Have a nice day."

Karen's Apartment.

Karen put the bottle to her lips, draining the last drops from it then throwing it in the garbage.

Her trashcan was nearly half full with beer bottles and whiskey and vodka bottles and still the edge was still there.

"Why am I not drunk?" Karen muttered she should have been dead and gone with alcohol poisoning by now, but she was still as sharp as ever, too sharp.

She wondered for a brief moment if she was going mad, wondered if she had finally broken down.

"Damn it" she said standing and going to the fridge. Pulling out the half dozen beers she dumped them all down the drain. "That's money wasted"

She threw the bottles and box in the trash and pulled out an orange juice to wash the taste away.

Karen stared at her obsession wall, now plastered with pictures of Torment and the crime scene she blew up with a glowing crystal. The blood on the floor had congealed and blackened, the windows shattered, and the stainless steel blackened and Torments tools of torture melted.

Torment had only suffered minor burns on his forearms and Batman or Bruce Wayne or whatever had probably had a fireproof cape on. It had been as though a small bomb had gone off.

Only the person who had detonated it was perfectly fine, sure her clothes had been burned up, but Karen had somehow not only survived but remained unscathed from the explosion that had followed her shattering that crystal besides crystal shrapnel embedding itself into her body that is.

The pictures taunted her as though they knew something that was so obvious that she was missing it. But what was she missing?

She glanced out the window and rolled her eyes. Batgirl was on a roof three buildings away, watching her, like she had for weeks now, maybe longer. But Karen didn't care what Batgirl saw, how indecent a cop she seemed right now, it wasn't as though Batgirl was going to go running to Yin about one of the detectives trying to drink herself to sleep every night because she can't cope.

But what exactly was she coping with? Karen had spent most of her adult life so far studying mad men and their tendencies for violence. It made sense to her what Torment did . . . sort of. He was a blood crazed power loving nut job. Kidnapping and torturing his victims gave him a perverse pleasure. Oddly all she got was a few nightmares the first week and that was it, she knew that what had happened to her was not her fault.

No it was these new senses, the new feelings that grew by the day, the hour even. Karen was having trouble dealing with the fact that she was becoming something . . . not human. At least not human by any means she knew of.

It scared her, and she couldn't stop it, couldn't continue to try and act normal and be a part of the world again. She had nearly passed out at work trying to keep all the feelings away. She could no longer handle crowds or more that three people now. Which really sucked when Jack and Helen visited her with the baby and Jane.

And speak of the devil, Karen thought as she felt Jack's presence enter her building, his light bluish color was nice, it was comfortable and familiar.

Only she had a trash can full of bottles that would send jack into hysterics, having visited earlier today and it being empty.

And he was in the elevator.

"Damn, damn, damn" Karen cursed shoving the trash can in the cupboard wincing at the sound of breaking glass. She sat on the couch and grabbed a book and steeled herself to look natural. But she was well aware that she reeked of booze and Jack would notice. Jack noticed everything.

Bang, bang

"Kare open up" Jack called and Karen heaved herself up and padded over to the door. Took a deep breath and opened it.

"Any slower and I would have broken it down" Jack said as he barreled in.

"You are such a drama queen" Karen said

"Yeah, what-" but Jack stopped midsentence and Karen froze.

Jack sniffed the air and went over to her sniffed again and Karen wanted to crawl into a hole to get away from the look he was giving her.

"You've been drinking" Jack said quietly "a lot"

"Yep" Karen said, trying to muster up some dignity. And failed to utter misery.

Jack stormed away from her and looked around the apartment.

"Where's the can?" he asked looking under the table.

"Excuse me?" Karen asked as though she had no idea what had gotten into him.

"Don't play with me Karen" Jack growled and he ripped open the cupboard under the sink. And found what he had been looking for.

And his eyes bugged out of his head.

"Jack?" Karen asked as he kept staring at the contents of the trash can. He turned slowly to her and gave her the same look as the trash can.

"This wasn't like this at lunch" Jack said "you changed the liner and . . . "

"And I ought to be in the hospital right now for alcohol poisoning" Karen said "I know"

"How?" Jack asked slowly putting the trash can down.

"I wish I knew" Karen said "and the worst thing is, I bought all this booze and I'm not even buzzed"

"This is impossible" Jack whispered and Karen sat him down on her couch.

"Screw impossible, its insanity" Karen said

"This is like that thing with your arm" Jack said "only I know for a fucking fact that this can't be done with steroids"

"Jack" Karen said "Go home, okay"

"Oh hell no" Jack said his old fire coming back for a moment. "I want some answers"

"I'll go see someone about it" Karen said "only if you go home"

Jack gave her a long look and the silence stretched so long that it became nearly unbearable.

"Fine" Jack said "but screw sleeping tonight. I won't be able to after this."

"Trust me neither will I" Karen muttered as she pushed him out the door.

A couple hours later Karen decided that she might as well take a shower and get rid of the booze cloud that hung over her.

As she was getting dressed though her entire apartment went as dark as the other side of the moon.

"Fuck" Karen said as she ran into her dresser. She felt around for her flashlight. And of course it wasn't there. Opening the top drawer she felt around and found the cold metal of her flash light. Breathing a sigh of relief she flipped the switch.

It flickered and died.

"Perfect" Karen muttered.

She stumbled around a bit, trying to feel for her gun. Robb3ers loved blackouts and often times took advantage of them. And she was not about to be caught unawares. But she needed light, she had just rearranged her furniture so she kept bumping into crap and hurting her shins and feet.

"This is stupid" Karen said "I need some damn light"

And suddenly her bedroom was filled with it.

Karen felt as though she had just hiked up eight flights of stairs after a trip to the gym. She suddenly wanted to sit down and rest for just a moment. And she turned to do just that.

And found a small little disembodied light behind her.

Karen stumbled back and stifled a scream. She fell onto her bed and stared at the light which followed her slightly.

Her lights flickered back on but the light never died, and all Karen could do was stare.

Go away she thought just go

And the light disappeared

Karen stared and stared at where it had been for several minutes

"Holy shit" she whispered.

Wayne Manor

Karen grabbed the knocker and pounded a few times before she heard any footsteps to answer it and got her badge out. The cool metal slipped in her sweaty fingers even though the night was chilly.

The huge door opened and the Wayne family butler, Alfred Pennyworth stood in the opening.

"How might I help you" he said in a prime English accent. Karen held up her badge.

"Police" Karen said "I need to speak with Mr. Wayne"

"Ah yes Detective, come in" the older man said stepping aside "I will fetch him."

"No need" Karen said hurrying past him, following the darkness of Batman through the house "I know where he is."

"I say" the butler exclaimed "Detective"

Karen ran through the corridor and down another hall to the northwest corner of the house and turned into what looked to be a private parlor

"Detective, I must insist you stop" Alfred cried but Karen had no intention of stopping. The trail went behind the grandfather clock on the far wall and Karen looked at it and closed her eyes.

Since that encounter with the weird light which Karen after some messing around had discovered that it had come from her, Karen had started practicing a little enough so that she could sense a person's imprint that they leave on the material world. And Bruce Wayne and the ever loyal Alfred had been pulling on the right chime an awful lot. Karen threw the latch of the glass case and pulled. There was a click and the grandfather clock swung open.

"Detective" Alfred's voice echoed down the hall full of indignation and little fear but Karen continued into the hole and down the short flight of stairs.

And into the Batcave.

It was massive, spectacular and so incredibly fantastic that Karen paused for a moment before regaining her single mindedness. The light from the flood beams and gigantic computer were enough to light her way even if the shadow of the man she was hounding down blocked a portion of it.

Batman sat in a chair at the computer console, typing in something with schematics of something rotating on the screen. But Karen didn't care about all that just yet.

"You know" Karen said as she approached "in hindsight it was really quite obvious"

Batman/Bruce Wayne started and stood, holding several batarangs at the ready, staring at Karen with a shocked expression.

"Not so fun being snuck up on is it?" Karen asked continuing toward him, but not so close that he could knock her out.

"I'm sorry sir" Pennyworth said breathing hard "I couldn't stop her"

There was a rustle and Karen put her hand out and caught the punch aimed at her jaw before she even realized what she was doing. Looking down at young Robin Karen smirked.

"Grayson" Karen greeted then pushed him back and turned back to Batman "I didn't come to blackmail you or reveal who you really are"

"Then why are you here?" Batman asked. And Karen glared back opening her hand she held it in front of his face palm up and conjured the little light, a duplicate of the one that had appeared in her apartment.

"I want you to fix whatever the fuck Torment did to me"


	9. Chapter 9

Karen fidgeted on the table as Bruce Wayne drew blood samples from her arm, aware of Dick Grayson watching her like a cat. Alfred was bustling about straightening and then standing dutifully next to Karen.

It didn't matter, now that she was here and Batman was working on just what that psychopath did to her, she wanted nothing more than to explore the lair of the Batman. What she could see was only satisfying a small part of her curiosity.

There were three main platforms in a mind-blowing cavern beneath Wayne Manor, the one on which the computer and stairs were, as well as her and the others. Another was circular and led to a tunnel and had on it a badass looking car that Karen was itching to pop the hood of and a weird looking jet. And the third was all the way down at the bottom where water flowed through the Batcave. Next to the platform floated the oddest looking submarine in the history of submarines. But she could barely make out these details, the cavern was so dark. The flood lights only illuminated the platforms and one small ante chamber filled with trophies, Karen thought from a giant penny to several Joker memorabilia and a few strange looking guns.

"Stop" Batman snapped and Karen had not realized she was shaking her leg in agitation. He stuck the needle in her arm and the syringe filled with crimson blood.

"Sorry" Karen muttered and then she looked over at Robin who was still glaring at her. "keep glaring and your face will freeze like that kid"

"I don't trust you" Robin said

"Good" Karen said "then you're on your way to becoming a Gotham citizen already"

"she won't say anything Robin" Batman said as he put a drop of Karen's blood on a slide and stuck it under the microscope.

"How do you know"

"Duh, kid" Karen said as Batman held his peace, engrossed in whatever fascination her blood held for him. "if I play Tilly Tattle Tale I'm going to have to explain how I know what I know, and if I tell the truth I'm going to either be locked up or experimented on, if I don't tell them how I know they are going to want evidence I don't have. Either way I lose. And I don't like losing"

Boy Wonder didn't answer and jumped off the table to sit at the computer.

"Batgirl coming?" Robin asked

Batman grunted but didn't say anything as he fiddled with the dials on the side of the scope.

"Oh lovely" Karen said "now maybe she'll stop stalking me"

"it was necessary" Batman said as he took another vial of chemicals and dropped a bit onto the slide.

Karen turned his statement over in her head a few times.

Why would Batman have Batgirl follow Karen and watch her every move. Karen still wasn't sure when it started but she was willing to bet her tiny apartment that it had started after the trios visit to her fire escape. And Karen still remembered the topic of that conversation.

"You think Torment is planning to take us back don't you" Karen asked and Batman's silence was enough. She thought about it, and shook her head. "no he won't"

"And why is that" Batman asked absentmindedly

"Because Torment's doesn't do things half way" Karen said "he won'[t take us back, he'll want revenge, he'll want to humiliate the people that humiliated him. that requires planning, and a lot of time, which he now has. But he doesn't have materials or resources. He's been isolated."

"Joker broke out of isolation" Robin said

"I'm not saying that is can't be done" Karen said "I'm only saying that he won't come after me or you Bats until he had every variable and factor placed and accounted for"

"that could take several years" Pennyworth commented

"He's patient like that" Karen said bitterly. "Sadistically so"

"Did he say anything Detective?" Batman asked suddenly.

"What do you mean" Karen asked looking over at the Batman who was still hunched over the microscope.

"When you were captured did he say anything"

"Yeah" Karen said slowly "why"

"What did he say" Bruce Wayne asked turning to her "exactly"

"Well he kept calling me his dear, which I hated" Karen said "Umm lets see, he said that he had never sensed power like me . . . he said that he's immortal and that he was sucking 'magic' out of me. But I wouldn't really depend on what he says too much, he is insane after all"

"insanity follows fact and logic" Batman said and he began typing on the computer "Robin, find out if Kent Nelson is still in New Orleans"

"Piece a cake" Dick Grayson said, going over to the computer and tapping a few keys. "Got him, he's there alright. But what do you want him for"

Batman looked at his young protégé as if it was obvious.

"Right" Grayson said

"Umm Kent Nelson. . .?" Karen trailed off hoping one would answer her unfinished question but neither did. "Oh you know that's fine, I put my life in your hands and you won't tell me what's going on. Yeah this will go over well"

"can I get you anything while you wait Detective?" Alfred asked.

"No" Karen said "no I'm good"

"Calling" Robin said and a ringing sound filled the cave.

"Hello" a rough voice said cheerily

"Nelson" Bruce greeted "I need you to come here"

"Batman" Nelson said "always so blunt."

"Magic is involved" Bruce continued

"Ah yes" the rough voice said "well I'll be on my way shall I?"

Click

"oh great" Karen said sarcastically "a man I don't know is coming, Batman believes a mad man, and oh yeah I can create fireflies with just one thought"

"Yes" Batman said curtly "now make another one"

"Excuse me" Karen asked indignantly

Bruce Wayne glared at her and Karen sighed

"you do that better with the mask" Karen informed him as she held out her hand and thought of light.

A much bigger light than before appeared instantly just above the middle of her palm and Karen bit her lip to keep from gasping. The drop in her strength though was not nearly as much as it had been the first few times and Karen could only guess at what that meant.

"Umm" Robin said "did you mean to make it that big" Karen shook her head. "is it just me or is she getting stronger?"

"Please say its just him" Karen muttered

"He's right" Batman said as he got out some sort of hand held scanning device and Karen was now wishing she had taken a tech course in college. He held it close to the light.

"Hmm" he muttered "no heat signature or any radioactive activity"

"At least I'm not a Nuclear reactor" Karen said then sighed "can you fix me or not"

Batman didn't answer.

"I almost liked you better when you were trying to butter me up" Karen said and in the back of her head she registered another presence on the Wayne estate and recognized it as a familiar. "Batgirl is in the building"

Alfred looked startled and briskly made his way to the stairs. After a few minutes of silence footsteps could be heard as well as low voices.

Suddenly light flared and for once it was not Karen. a harsh golden light seeped into all corners of the Batcave and sent the bats into a frenzy. The light solidified into an Ankh and a man in blue and gold appeared wearing a golden helmet that covered all but the man's eyes.

"Dr. Fate" Karen breathed "you know him?" she asked Batman as he turned to face their visitor

"hardly" Dr. Fate said in an impossibly deep voice "I have been informed of your request of visitation and told it was prudent to come. Why have you summoned me?"

"Her" Batman said gesturing to Karen.

Dr. Fate floated closer and settled on the ground in front of Karen who swallowed for once unableto speak.

It wasn't his voice or his costume or his powers that had her tongue tied. It was the fact that she was feeling two completely different presences. One was light and cheerful but held a certain sadness and had a reach beyond normal. While the other was harsh and ancient and almost alien, it spoke of wisdom beyond time and the presence stretched to places that Karen was too frightened to be aware of.

"Curious" Dr. Fate said and Karen couldn't stop herself from speaking as he looked at her with vacant eyes.

"Am I speaking to Kent Nelson, or " Karen asked quietly and was surprised at how even her voice was. Robin stared at Karen while Batman narrowed his eyes.

"You were right to call me" Dr. Fate said "this human is powerful, a level of power that has not been seen on earth since Merlin and Mordrid perhaps even greater than they."

But before Fate could say anything further, Karen's hand suddenly exploded in pain and she screamed. She began thrashing as her hand felt as though it was ripping apart and when she looked at it that's what seemed to be happening.

Her skin and the muscles beneath it was crawling as though alive, and Karen felt a grinding pain in her bones and then as she screamed she began feeling numb, and the blessed blackness dragged her down to senselessness.

Karen's head pounded like someone had taken a hammer to it and every rustle of the sheets was like a freight train rolling by in her ears.

"Ugh" Karen groaned

"Good morning Detective Larsing" a prim British accent said and light stabbed at her eyes like needles.

"Turn the damn light off" she said hoarsely as though she had had a cold.

"of course" Alfred said "when you are ready breakfast is in the dinning hall and Masters Dick and Bruce are waiting" and with a proper click the door was closed and the light off.

"Fuck" Karen muttered and sat up in the darkness. Her head spun and it took her a moment to regain her bearings but by the time she swung her legs out of the huge bed that she had been put in the lightheadedness and migraine ceased and Karen felt much better.

She looked down at her hand and shuddered remembering quite clearly the pain and the moving of her flesh, but she supposed Batman had drugged her. It explained her raging headache and lack of memory.

Karen wrinkled her nose at her gross smelling clothes and sighed.

Serves you right for being impulsive she thought to herself.

She looked around and found the light switch. At the foot of the bed was a neatly folded pile of clothes, a decent button up blouse, a pair of jeans and socks and boots and a leather jacket. Karen also found fresh toiletries in the bathroom and proceeded to clean herself up. By the time she was done she could faintly smell the French toast and bacon that was wafted from downstairs.

It took a bit to find the dining room before she could sense the three people in the dining room.

No four, it was that new and friendly presence she had felt along with Dr. Fate. So Kent Nelson would be joining them for breakfast. Karen was glad for that, Dr. Fate was a bit too alien for Karen right now.

The four males looked up as she entered the dining room and only two smiled.

"Jolly good Detective" Alfred said briskly and pulled a chair for her to sit in then began piling her plate with food.

Kent Nelson stood and held out his hand as Karen neared the end of the gigantic table.

"Miss Larsing a pleasure to meet you" Nelson said grasping her hand firmly in two of his.

"Likewise Mr. Nelson" Karen said and was about to ask her seemingly endless questions when Alfred shushed her.

"Food first Detective questions later" the butler said in a tone that brokered no argument "if you please"

The breakfast was quiet and Karen was halfway through her French toast when she began feeling uncomfortable. There was too much . . . space? Wealth? There was something here that had Karen just itching for a park bench or her little apartment. Finally she put down her fork and appealed to Alfred.

"Is there somewhere else I can eat?" Karen asked "a smaller table, or maybe a bench, don't care really, just not in here"

Karen knew it was probably rude but she could give a rat's ass about manners, she wanted out of the manor. It wasn't the space, the Batcave was just as big as the house, it wasn't the company she had been with all of these people before her hand had started eating itself or whatever it had done last night, it had to be the house. Alfred looked startled but nodded. Karen was about to get up and follow when Nelson chuckled.

"Don't worry Karen" he said as she turned to him in indignation "it's not the house it's the magic"

Karen stared at the old man before her and swallowed looking first at Bruce who wore a blank expression as though this happened every day and her was starting to get bored, then she looked at Dick who only looked curious, but not surprised. Karen looked back at Nelson and carefully phrased her question.

"What I can do, sensing people seeing all these colors" Karen said and closed her eyes, unable to believe she was saying this. "making balls of light, is magic"

"Yep" Nelson said "Come on, lets take our breakfast on the terrace"

Karen mutely followed as Alfred led the way out the double French doors and down the steps to the gazebo, surrounded by beautifully manicured lawns and flower beds. Almost immediately Karen felt better, not completely, but better none the less.

Alfred deposited their food on the small table in the gazebo and pulled out the two chairs then quickly and discreetly made himself scarce.

"I don't understand" Karen said "I was ordinary a few months ago, I couldn't even change the batteries in my flashlight without Jack reminding me all the time. Why did this all start happening now?"

"that's the mystery" Kent said tapping his nose "Magic is difficult to explain, but here is my take on it, for however little I have experienced it, magic is in everything, small traces in today's world but it's there. Now usually on the earthly plane magic can only be harnessed with objects or talismans as a focus. Those that have magic here on earth are sensitive people able to use the magic trapped within the objects or use the focus. Now there is the one or two humans that are born with it."

"Born with it?" Karen asked

"Yes" Nelson said "now whether they know it or not is a different matter entirely, and whether they can use it or not is in another ball park. The last man on the earthly plane able to do this at least to my knowledge is Merlin."

"Then how come you can do magic" Karen asked feeling more and more confused as Nelson continued to talk.

"I can only do magic if I absolutely need to" Nelson said "and like all magic the use of a spell comes from with in,"

"But last night" Karen started and Nelson smiled as she trailed off thinking.

"the helmet" Karen muttered

"I'm only an old coat" Nelson said "I have enough power and a decent affinity for the mystic arts, enough that Nabu, the real Dr. Fate can operate and use spells and magic that I can't. My wife Inza thinks I ought to quit, and I suppose I will in a year or two, but not yet."

"Nabu?" Karen asked

"a Lord of Order from the magical plane" Nelson said "he followed Klarion the Witch Boy here and has not left."

"do you expect me to put on the helmet" Karen asked wearily and Nelson shook his head.

"Your magic is different" Nelson said "you have the ability to use magic directly, like Merlin, to see auras and that light you made was only the beginning, you will be able to do much more, for instance look at the roses behind you"

Karen turned to the roses and watched as they grew slowly, the blossoms blooming fully and the ivy vines curling further around the gazebo pillars.

"at the moment you are untrained" Nelson said "and I can't train you, all I can do is perhaps give you a book of Celtic spells and send you on your way. "

"Why can't you train me" Karen asked shakily as she turned from the roses, freaked out beyond all reason.

"Because your branch of magic isn't mine" Nelson said "and you will not be able to be as open about your practices as I or Zatara are. you are too powerful and if you do a spell too big you may end up putting Africa in an ice age"

"Great" Karen muttered "So no lifting up Mount Kilimanjaro"

"I'm afraid not" Nelson said with a smile. "the most important thing for you to know is this, do not be afraid of your gift, do not fear it's potential otherwise it will drive you insane"

"No worries then" Karen said "I'm already insane"

"now" Nelson said snapping his napkin out "let's eat shall we?"


	10. Chapter 10

**(A/N):Hey to all those who have been reading this story, I want to thank you all for doing so, and this chapter is going to be a little longer than others. Karen has come a long way and I hope you all will follow her along her journey. Please Read and Review. **

"Well?" Bruce Wayne asked his elderly guest who returned from the breakfast out in the gazebo. Kent Nelson smiled and took his original place, twisting his cane into the carpet as he watched the younger man with mischievous eyes.

"She's powerful" Nelson said "very powerful. She might even surpass Merlin's power. Born with it, from all my experience of reading talent, but had she not been pushed into such a desperate situation where the magic had been forced to surface, it would have remained subtle"

"She's used it before her capture then?" Bruce asked with a raised eyebrow.

"her entire life" Nelson said "you said she was a profiler as well as a detective? How do you suppose she was so good at reading people"

Bruce did not say anything and turned his thoughts inward.

"There is nothing you can do for her?" Bruce asked and Kent shook his head

"Once the power had been awakened it began to grow at perhaps three times the rate it would have had she been able to use the power throughout her child hood" Nelson said "and her power is unique, it follows a branch of magic that only the old Celtics and English civilizations had knowledge of. She is able to use magic not only directly but she can shape it, and it will do her bidding willingly. Even I need words, spells, talismans, objects of power, a symbol of some sort when I don the helmet. She doesn't, all she needs is a clear mind and a purpose. But that branch of magic can have immense consequences."

"so she's dangerous" Bruce said slowly

"As she is" Nelson conceded "and if she begins to fear this power she will become not only dangerous but deadly, to not use it now will force her into insanity, gibbering and incoherent, an insanity that lashes at one and all."

"will you teach her?" Batman asked and Kent shook his head

"I can't" Nelson said "I am not familiar with it, and even Fate feels that he is unqualified to teach a magician of such unpredictable power. Zatanna or Zatara would be a better fit, they know the theories but don't have the power to practice it at least not on their own. But I don't think either is experienced enough to take on this Detective"

"So what can we do?" Bruce said

"I cannot take her to the Tower" Kent said "Fate would think it folly to have the woman immersed in so much magic when she is only beginning to comprehend her power." Nelson twisted his cane in thoughtful silence and was about to open his mouth when a brilliant flash lit up the garden.

"My word" Alfred's startled voice said from the door and Bruce watched with an impassive expression as the roses and hedges began to grow at an alarming rate then stopped abruptly. The lawn grew to where it was no longer a lawn but a meadow of wildflowers and tall waving grass. The pines grew visible another foot and the gazebo became covered in moss and ivy. Then all t rapid growth ceased and left Wayne Manor's immaculately kept garden looking slightly wild and eerie.

"Well, well" Nelson said and Bruce Wayne turned to the hundred year old sorcerer and watched as he chuckled. "she may be new to magic but she won't be for long"

Dick only stared.

A few weeks later

"Good Karen" Kent said with approval as she settled to the ground again. She had just flown around the cavern to the entertainment of the bats, both human and animal, levitating and weaving among the stalactites that hung from the ceiling of the Batcave. Flying was fun, but taxing, she rather liked going on foot now. Her endurance and stamina had increased to twice that of even Robin, who had trained since he could walk to swing for hours on a trapeze and do several tricks, then longer as Robin to keep up with Batman. It became so that she could bound across the Gotham roof tops and up the sides of the skyscrapers like a possessed monkey when she saw fit. And barefoot at that, having sadly found tat she hated wearing shoes.

She barely slept anymore, often spending her nights in the Batcave with Bruce or roaming the city, helping where she could.

Karen had used the three month vacation time she had acquired in her five years as a cop and was taking it all in one stride. Gordo had been surprised and Yin had nearly blown a gasket when Karen had requested it, but Karen had thrown phrases around like "capture" and "losing her ability to cope" and both had nodded sagely and granted both their permission and wish that she returned to the force with a sound mind and heart.

And somehow when Karen had promised to do so, she felt the words hollow out as if they would not happen.

But that hardly mattered now. Karen had accepted what she could do after doing that little stunt to the garden. She had wished it had not been so . . . tame and had tentitavely coaxed the plants into growing, and before she knew it she was in what looked to be a briar patch instead of a garden. Kent had given her a book of Celtic and Arthurian lore, both appearing before him. Kent could only guide her on what he thought she might like to learn but after that it was up to her to figure out how to perform the spell.

Karen found the magic easier to perform in the cave or on the roof of Wayne Manor at night. And she was over half finished with the book and to Karen's new senses it worried Nelson a little that she was learning so quickly.

Nelson had not donned the helmet of Fate since he had met Karen, who was a little disappointed, the ancient consciousness of Nabu could be helpful in her studies.

As Karen opened the Celtic book again, Karen felt as though she was back in college only there was no booze or a bunch of frat boys wrestling in the lawn. The language on the pages had not been the obstacle for Karen, which for some reason she was able to understand almost immediately, it had been the magic itself, she was so new to this and she refused to think of what having all this magic would mean. Nelson had not explained everything to her but she wasn't a detective for nothing.

Kent, Karen learned from Robin was just over a hundred, and from Karen's inference that was only because he spent most of that time as a servant of Nabu, and now that Karen was using her gift, she could only guess at how long she would live. Merlin it was said was immortal, though it depended on the legend you read.

Karen looked for a moment at the pages of the spell book and waited for a moment while her brain kicked in to translate the odd and ancient language. When Kent had given her the book she had prused it before she had really started seriously honing her powers, and she had finally reached a spell she had wanted to try for a couple of weeks now. A scrying spell.

Jack had moved to Metropolis with Helen and Jane and his new son Nick and Karen now found herself lonely. Jen was a good partner but she wasn't Jack.

And the Batman and his two sidekicks didn't count, nor did Kent and Alfred. They were good friends but all so absorbed in their work that she had no company, not really.

She had seen the scrying spell and had wondered if she could use it to look in on her god children and their parents, and now she would get a chance to try it.

Karen reached out with her magic, throwing out a hand in an automatic gesture that she didn't really need but did anyway. She felt the cool flow of the water beneath her at the bottom of the Batcave and carefully pulled at a small bit of it and brought it up. A water glob the size of a soccer ball floated toward her, shimmering with a white light that always accompanied Karen's magic, it shot toward her like a magnet and hovered just in front of her face, its light reflecting all around the cavern.

Karen took a deep breath and Nelson stood back. Karen brought some of her inner magic to the surface and as always a soft warm white light engulfed her. It radiated out from her like a light bulb and Karen wanted to laugh at herself.

It was ridiculous, she used to read all those myths about people with powers like hers, and now she was one, just like that.

She quit with her musings as she focused on the rippling and ever changing ball of water and thought of a perfect stillness and the water was like glass.

Alright she thought to herself nice and steady now.

And she carefully thought of Jack, and not just him but his presence . . . aura as Nelson called it, and carefully pulled bits of her memories of him to form one whole picture. This took a lot longer than Karen wanted but she kept it up until finally she had him perfectly envisioned in her mind. The book had explained that a mistake could cause you to see the wrong person or even into other realms, and it had gone on about doorways and Ragnarok and Karen had stopped reading from there. She wasn't quite ready for that information just yet.

Karen then cast the image into the now brightly glowing water and it reflected there a moment then faded and there was a sudden rush of color across the water then it froze on an image of Metropolis, then it zoomed in like a camera lens into a park and there having a picnic was Jack looking scarred but happier than Karen had ever seen him, chasing Jane around a tree then catching her up and putting her on his shoulders as she laughed with delight.

Karen watched another moment then released both Jacks image in her mind and the magic she held over the water, which fell lamely to a puddle at her feet.

"well done" Nelson said and Karen grimaced "Don't worry, constructing an image will become second nature over time. All it takes is practice."

"That same old tune" Karen grumbled

"yet sung nonetheless" Nelson said with a smile

Karen huffed and turned from the old sorcerer to Batman who was working on some sort of case that she was once again not privy to. She knew it had something to do with Joker, knew that the police sation was connected.

"Well, Bruce are you going to let me on this little plan of Joker's you're working on?" Karen asked

"No" Batman said and Barbara rolled her eyes. Karen had found out the identity of Batgirl quite by accident, having passed her outside the Commissioner's office as she left. Karen had nearly stopped her to say something but thought better of it as Yin followed her out.

But Barbara did not seem perturbed after Karen had found her patrolling the streets. Batman had informed her of Karen's activities and had warned her to avoid the detective when she was out of costume.

"Come on Bruce" Barbara said in exasperation. "a fresh pair of eyes will do us good. And don't say go get Dick, he has finals tomorrow and needs actual sleep"

Batman said nothing for a long while but Barbara had a smug smile on which gave Karen some hope.

"Jokers cronies, including Harley Quinn have been seen outside Gotham City Police Station" Batman said pulling up a vidieo of a woman in an overcoat with black and red pointed shoes poking out from beneanth the hem of the coat. She was talking to a beat cop, flirting shamelessly, then walked away and went around the corner where she flagged down a car, punched the driver and drove away.

"this wasn't the first occurrence" Batman said "I have witnessed Joker himself casing Gotham P.D. but why I can't figure out. He may be planning an attack on the commissioner, he may be planning to cripple Gotham P.D. in some way"

"that doesn't sound like Joker" Karen said watching another video, this time of a large man who looked a bit like Mo from the Three Stooges passing a roll of bills to a different and desperate looking cop who began talking like his life depended on it. Karen supposed it did, she only wished that she could hear what the wretched man was saying. "joker plays games, he doesn't case a joint just cause, he leaves clues breadcrumbs for you to follow."

Karen hit the zoom button on the console and the picture zoomed in to the alley way.

Joker completely ignored the camera, though Karen saw him glance at it. he was currently threatening the receptionist with a knife, a gruesome smile on his face.

"he wouldn't be threatening the Kathrine, not if he was planning an attack" Karen said to herself. "is this a recording or current?"

"Current" Batman said

"Barbara" Karen said "how fast can you get over to my precinct?"

"a few minutes maybe"

"She hasn't got a few minutes" Karen muttered and her eyes fell on the Celtic spell book she had left on the cave floor. Snatching it up she ripped through the pages.

"Transprotaion" Karen said and closed her eyes, reached for the magic and pulled.

A roar filled her ears and she was standing behind the receptionist and glaring at Joker. Joker dropped the knife in surprise but Karen didn't let him recover, stepping around the weak kneed woman, Karen lunged at Joker and had him in a choke hold before he could so much as blink. He scrabbled at her arms but after a few moments went limp.

Karen released him and the Clown Prince of Crime slumped at her feet. There was a thud and the tinkling of aluminum behind her and Karen turned to find the receptionist, Kathrine passed out in the garbage bags.

Karen gently picked the woman up, surprised that she weighed no more than a bag of flour. Karen thought of an empty ambulance and thr roaring filled her ears and there she was outside some random house where a gurney was all stretched out, the paramedic inside.

Karen gently laid the woman on the gurney and transported herself to the Batcave.

Where she promptly fell on her face as her knees gave out. Karen's vision went blurry then focused sharply the blurred again and her muscles began shaking uncontrollably.

"Fool" a harsh voice snapped, overlaying Nelson's own. Dr. Fate had joined them at last. Karen tried to stand but she couldn't seem to get her feet under her. She felt two pairs of gloved hands grab her under arms and pull her up.

"Oh hey Nabu, long time no see" Karen muttered

"Foolish child" Dr. Fate said "you have overextended yourself, making yourself vulnerable to attack." To prove this he shot a bolt of golden light right into Karen's chest, who was ripped from Robin's and Batgirls grip and thrown into the wall next to the costume case.

"Fate" Batman said sharply, but Karen's adrenalin had kicked in and she felt a surge of power.

"That hurt" she grated and formed the magic growing inside her into a rod of power and with a speed that no human should have had she launched herself at the gold and blue clad floating man.

Fate moved out of her sideswipe and gathered his own power. But Karen had the element of unpredicablity, Fate didn't know how she thought or acted, but she knew that he had meant her no true harm, only to prove his point. And Karen could feel Nelson trying to reason with the ancient Lord of Order, slowing his reaction time.

He conjured an ankh and captured her hands but she absorbed the magic and threw it back into his face, following quickly with a round house kick to the head and had the Great Sorcerer on his back. delbritaely Karen put her staff of energy under his chin.

"Don't do that again" Karen growled "and Kent if you can hear me, I'm sorry I kicked you in the head" and Karen backed off. "Now I'm going to find a bed and sleep for a week and none of you are going to wake me up" and Karen crushed the staff and absorbed the magic it took to create and left the stunned collection of heroes.

Karen didn't sleep for a week, but she did sleep for almost tow full days before she felt strong enough to continue her training.

Now that she wasn't pumped full of adrenaline, Karen was now kicking herself for being so reckless, doing a spell that she had barely skimmed let alone learned. She found that it took several hours of preparation to even try a spell, but this one she did on spur of the moment stupidity.

And it had cost her dearly in strength, not to mention the small scuffle with Joker, and even the thought of the crazed man still had her heart in her mouth. Karen had only been able to subdue him because he had been so caught off guard, but when she had put him in that choke hold, she could feel the insanity coming off of him and it felt as though the stuff had sunk into her skin. She had showered and showered and showered some more as though she could scrub the feeling away somehow.

She finally emerged from her bedroom with wet hair and some of her clothes that Barbara had picked up for her and nearly ran into Barbara herself.

"whoops" Barbara said "Sorry Karen"

"No problem" Karen muttered "where's Nelson?"

"I have no idea" she said cheerfully "hey do you want to come with me to the mall? Bruce is in some important business meeting, Dick is in school for his finals, and I am bored"

Karen swallowed hard at the offer, she was finding that even the few people of the Batcave was a bit two much for her taste, but to get off of the Wayne Estates and back into the city was just too tempting.

"Give me a few okay?" Karen said, she resisted the urge to call the young woman kid. She didn't act like the eighteen year old she was, but rather like someone of Karen's own age group.

Karen escaped into her room and as she fixed her hair she was shored up her shields, preparing herself to step out of isolation and into the heart of the most populated and polluted city in America.

The mall was crowded as usual, but Karen kept her shields bound down tight and she only felt those she wanted, soothing a child whose ice cream had fallen on the walk way, flicking her hand and making the ice cream disappear putting a new scoop on the cone. Barbara was giggling behind her hand as the mother stared in dumbfound amazement where the ice cream had been while her son licked the fresh scoop happily.

"You're getting really good at that stuff" Barbara commented as they ducked into the shop.

"yeah, if only I wasn't so . . . impulsive" Karen said

"hey, you acted faster than any of us" Barbara said "and thanks to you that receptionist is home with her family, thanking God and whoever saved her."

"Well, sure" Karen said pulling on a leather jacket then shaking her head, none of her usual things were looking right anymore. "I mean that all well and good, but if I did something like that again with a slightly bigger spell, I might have killed myself"

"But you didn't and you won't" Barbara argued "that jacket looked nice, why not get it?"

"didn't look right" Karen muttered and looked around "Go pick out what you want, none of this is going to work for me"

"Um okay" Barbara said "I'll call you and we'll meet in the food court."

Karen nodded and left Barbara to her shopping, and began wandering around.

She felt so different from these people that milled around that exclaimed over the new jackets, who battled each other in virtual worlds and stuffed their faces with greasy food. She felt something close to disdain, then guilt, for she not so long ago had been the same. She felt so apart from the world, yet so connected at the same time.

And now my head hurts Karen thought bitterly.

Barbara called a few minutes later and Karen made her way to the food court and found Barbara stuffing her own face with a salad. Karen ordered some Chinese and ate slowly, unable to concentrate on the food.

And that's when half the mall exploded into oblivion.


End file.
